fe 








H*^^ 






o. ♦•Vo' jS>" ^ **• 








• :i>'\ 


















05 °.* 









o'* .I'^L', *< 







V> ..JJnL% 'CI 









"« • 1 



.^ 




<> *' .7V» ,0 











«* . . • 




o"^ II 1 •i'' "^ 



V'^^ 











0* ...JJ^., *o^ A* ..•- 







.* *K 0-, . 







% "^^^^ '^^^^\ "^^^^ i^^' "^^.t^ '■ 




»■ 



A 9^ '. 




'bt? 



iO-j-_, 




: ^^0^ 



4 0^ 



/■\ --W- 4*''** -SiK" /■% -^w; J' 




.o">i^j4.% ^^o .-a-^ y 







* -^"^^^ 






^^.-^^ oV^^^^lCV- '^^MrS' •^J^M^r^. ^^^ o 



















'^^ ' • • ' A^ . . 'il* a\ ^^^ '" J^ 



O^ '• . I • ,<% 



•.♦ <S* % ' 



s''-'^. 



': .-i 






4^-#> 



EULE AND MISRULE 



OF THE 



ENGLISH U AMERICA 



BY THE AUTHOR OF 



f^JAM SLICK THE CLOCK-MAKER," "THE LETTER BAG," 
"ATTACHE," "OLD JUDGE," ETC. 

^■e..^.,.^ Cfiuw44Lia«^ Hax^W'J^ 



"Nee quA commissas flectat habenas 
Nee seit qui sit iter ; nee si sciat, imperet illis." 

Ovid. 




NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

82 CLIFF STREET. 

%'r 






\ 



DEDICATION. 



My dear Lord Falkland, 

I DERIVE much more pleasure in having the opportunity 
of dedicating this Work to you, than, I am afraid, you 
will feel at your seeing your name attached to a book, 
containing many things in which I know you do not con- 
cur ; and some that your friendship for me will cause you 
to wish were expunged. 

I do not, by any means, desire to have it supposed, that 
it has obtained your sanction, as a Colonial Governor, for 
you have never seen the manuscript, nor have I had the 
advantage of your valuable advice and experience during 
its progress. 

My reason for inscribing it to you, though two-fold, is 
altogether personal. First — It will recall to your mind 
an old friend, who has spent many happy hours in your 
society, and partaken largely of your kindness and hos- 
pitality, in time by-gone, when we discoursed de omnibus 
rebus et quibusdam aliis. Those days can never be re- 
called, or renewed ; but memory would indeed be a source 
of unmitigated pain, if it only reflected the dark shades, 
and not the sunny spots of life. This book will show 
you, that my political views are unchanged. I should be 
ashamed of myself, if a dedication were necessary to prove 
that my affection is also unaltered. Secondly — I know 
of no one so conversant with the subject as yourself. I 
never had a very exalted opinion of what is called "Re- 
sponsible Government," knowing that the term was an 



xu DEDICATION. 

indefinite one, and that an interpretation had been put 
upon it by many people, that made it almost amount to 
sovereignty. 

To you was intrusted the delicate and difficult task of 
introducing it into Nova Scotia. Of the independence, 
judgment, moderation, and manliness, with which this 
delegated duty was executed, I say nothing, because in 
all ages, and in all countries, there have been others, be- 
side your Lordship, who could justly lay claim to these 
qualities. But one thing is most certain, that the late 
Lord Metcalf and yourself were the only two men, either 
in the Cabinet or the Colonies, who understood the prac- 
tical operation of the system ; for while you conceded tc 
the provincial Assembly, the entire control of its local 
affairs, you maintained your own position as the Queen's 
representative, asserted your rights, as an independent 
branch of the Legislature, and at the same time upheld 
the Royal Prerogative. Those Governors wherever situ- 
ated, who have put a wider and more extended interpreta- 
tion on the term than yourself, have become mere ciphers ; 
while those, who may wish to follow your example, will 
find, that unwise concessions have rendered the task both 
hopeless and thankless. 

" Sibi quivis 
Speret idem, sudet multum, t'rustraque laboret." 

I am, my dear Lord Falkland, 

Very sincerely and affectionately, 
Yours, always, 

The Author. 

Nova Scotia, March 31, 1851. 



THE 



ENGLISH II AMEEICA. 



BOOK I. 



CHAPTER I. 



Introduction — Objects and Utility of the Woi-k — No connected Political History 
of the Colonies to be found — Popular EiTor as to the Origin of the American 
Republic — One established at Plymouth in 1620, and another in Massachu- 
setts in 1629, which subsisted for more than fifty Years — Democracy the 
result both of Design and Necessity — Notice of the early Settlers. 

The early settlements made by the English in America were 
effected either by individual speculators or associated companies. 
They were in general situated at a distance from each other, 
having at first little or no connection, either political, social, or 
commercial among themselves, and deriving but trifling assist- 
ance, and less protection, from the mother country. They grew 
up into powerful colonies, in neglect and obscurity, with a rapid- 
ity and vigor that astonished Europe. They were without pre- 
cedent in the previous annals of England, and the political 
agitation of the public mind in the present state, unhappily 
afforded no opportunity for establishing their relation on a proper 
foundation, or arranging a consistent and uniforrn plan for their 
government. The accounts we have of them, therefore, are de- 
tached, and their interest is destroyed for want of continuity. 
Every plantation has had its annahst, but the narratives are too 
local, too minute, and too similar in their details to be either 
interesting or instructive. No attempt has been made to sep- 
arate the political from the provinpial, and the general from the 



14 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA 

individual and petty personal history. This, doubtless, is the 
reason why so little is knoM'n of the old colonies previous to the 
independence, and so little benefit has accrued from past experi- 
ence, either to Great Britain or her dependencies. 

A connected sketch of English " rule and misrule in America," 
it is hoped, may, to a certain extent, supply the deficiency, while 
it will correct some popular errors on the subject, and furnish 
valuable material for reflection, not only to those statesmen to 
whom our destinies are intrusted, but to those restless politicians 
who imagine a republican form of government suitable to the 
inhabitants of every country in the world. 

Warned by past failures, the former may learn, ere it be too 
late, to abstain from making experiments which have long since 
been tried and condemned ; to supply deficiencies which have 
heretofore cost the nation so dearly, to correct abuses arising from 
inconsiderate concessions, and to cherish and foster those estab- 
lishments which in every stage of colonization have been the 
nurseries of loyalty to the monarch, and attachment to the na- 
tion. It will at least convince them that to substitute democratic 
for monarchical institutions is not the safest or best mode of re- 
taining colonies, or enlisting the sympathy of their inhabitants. 

The latter class (revolutionists) are numerous every where. 
Astonished and dazzled at the extraordinary success that has 
attended the great American experiment, they merely regard the 
result, without stopping to investigate the cause, and hastily 
conclude that that which has worked so well in the United 
States, and produced so much general prosperity and individual 
good, is equally applicable to, or attainable by every other people. 
This is a great and fatal error. A government must not only be 
suited to the population, but to the country for which it is de- 
signed ; and the moral and social condition of the one, and the 
size, the climate, and political and relative position of the other, 
are of the utmost importance to be thoroughly understood, and 
maturely considered. 

Thus a constitutional monarchy has proved inadequate in 
Spain to conciliate the afiections or restrain the turbulence of the 
people. Responsible government in Canada has failed in its 
object, because it is incompatible with imperial control and 
colonial dependence, is unsuited to the poverty, ignorance, and 
inactivity of the French Habitants, and the predilections and 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. IS 

prejudices of the English emigrants, and because it wants cor- 
relative and congenial institutions, and is deficient in federal 
strength and central gravitation. Royalty could not be accli- 
mated in the United States, though the experiment were to be 
tried by a vote of a large majority. It is contrary to the genius 
of the people, their habits, institutions, and feelings. For these 
and other reasons, self-government has signally failed in all the 
republics of the southern hemisphere, though the constitution and 
example of the United States have been followed as closely as 
possible. Democracy has at present a feverish and delirious ex- 
istence in France. It was not the deliberate choice of the na- 
tion, but the result of an insurrection. It offered a temporary 
shelter amid the storms of civil commotion, and was adopted as 
a harbor of refuge. How long will its neutral character be 
respected by the irreconcilable parties that distract that unhappy 
nation 1 

My desire is, among other objects of this work, to show where 
and by whom republicanism was introduced into this continent, 
what its foundations are, how they were laid., and what provision 
has been made for its support and continuance. Having given a 
narrative of its origin; growth, and maturity, which can alone be 
compiled from provincial annals, I shall endeavor to explain 
briefly the complicated mechanism and simple action of the 
American federal constitution, and the balances and checks that 
have been so skillfully contrived by the great statesmen who 
constructed it ; and also to point out the wonderful combination 
of accidental causes that contributed to its success, and the 
ability, unity, energy, and practical skill of the people, who work 
the machine and keep it in order and repair. The question has 
often been asked why may not this form of government be copied 
and adopted in England or France ? The answer is to be found 
in every part of this history. It will be necessary most carefully 
to ascertain whether those things which have tended to its suc- 
cess in America exist, or can by any possibility be created in 
Europe. Its development must be traced step by step, day by 
day, from one event to another, and one generation and institu- 
tion to another. Due weight must be attached to the consider- 
ation who and what the people were who founded it, and who 
and what they are who now live under it, as well as the time 
and the place selected for the experiment. 



16 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

We must then judge whether all these circumstances, or the 
greater part of them, were indispensably necessary to success, and, 
if so, whether there is any thing analogous in Europe. I shall 
furnish the facts : let others build their own theories. I enter 
into no speculations, and, above all, offer no opinions as to the 
durability of this great republic of the western world, or how it 
will work when the population shall be proportionally as large 
as that of Europe. 1 simply portray it as it is. 

Most men believe that the American Pvepublic took its rise in 
a successful resistance of the provincials to an attempt on the 
part of Great Britain, in a parliament in which they were not 
represented, to tax them without their consent, and that resist- 
ance led to a revolution, in which they asserted their independ- 
ence, and finally obtained it in the year 1783. 

This is a very natural mistake for those persons to fall into 
who are not acquainted with their early history, but a republic 
de facto was first formed at Plymouth, in New England, in 1620, 
and another far more extensive and flourishing one was erected 
in Massachusetts, in the years 1628 and 1629, both which sub- 
sisted in full force for a period of more than fifty years, without 
submitting to the power, or acknowledging the authority of the 
Parent State. 

These independent communities founded the institutions, and 
disseminated the democratic opinions that were subsequently 
adopted by the continental provinces. The former are, with 
some small modifications, such as are in existence there at the 
present day, and the latter are identical with the views of their 
descendants. The reason that so little is known of the occur- 
rences of this period I have already assigned, but they are essen- 
tial elements in forming any just estimate of subsequent events, 
or an accurate opinion of transatlantic affairs. With these com- 
monwealths our narrative must necessarily commence. I shall 
omit every thing that does not either develop the character or 
principles of the people, or elucidate the views they entertained 
of their own supremacy, and their right to the soil, and govern- 
ment of the country of their adoption. I shall pass over also the 
earlier settlement at Plymouth with only a brief reference, as 
well on account of the greater growth and importance of Massa- 
chusetts, and the influence it always exerted on the neighboring 
plantations, as to preserve the narrative entire. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 17 

At the end of half a century these two republics were rendered 
nominally subordinate to the empire, but remained practically 
independent, retaining their own self-government, resisting the 
encroachments of the prerogative, zealously avoiding all acknowl- 
edgment of parental control, either in external matters of trade, 
or internal affairs of legislation or police, until they felt strong 
enough, in conjunction with the contiguous colonies, to sever all 
connection M^hatever with Great Britain. It is a curious and 
instructive history, and well w^orthy of the attentive consideration 
of those who feel inclined to imitate, and imagine they are able 
to follow the example. They will be struck with the important 
fact that they commenced with small and isolated communities, 
having one common object in view, and possessing the means, 
the unity of political and religious opinions, and the mutual confi- 
dence and sympathy necessary to effect their purpose. There 
was nothing to pull down or remove, no privileged orders to 
reduce, no serfs to raise to a level with themselves, no pre-exist- 
ing form of government to eradicate, no contending factions or 
intriguing leaders to subdue, and no populace to concihate or 
control. The scene was a forest, and the actors intelligent and 
resolute men, drawn from the middle and not the lower orders of 
society, emigrants from a country having liberal institutions and 
a code of laws well calculated to secure and promote the liberty 
of the subject. They were beyond the reach and the observation 
of the Parent State, and were left unaided and unmolested to 
put their theories into practice. The structure of the govern- 
ment thus adopted was simple, and suited to the exigencies and 
equality of their situation. 

The civil divisions of the country, which became necessary 
from time to time, in consequence of their extended growth, and 
the internal management of their local affairs, corresponded with 
that of the first settlements, and were adopted not merely be- 
cause they were democratic, but because they were best suited to 
their conditions, and in unison with their preconcerted object. 
One little village and neighborhood gave rise to another little 
village and neighborhood, and one distant settlement to another, 
until the country became populous, and the people too extended 
and numerous to meet together in council. 

Delegated power then became indispensable, and a legislature 
arose, in imitation of and analogous to that of England. Then 



18 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

came the necessity of establishing institutions, suitable not merely 
for a community but for a number of communities, not for the 
present generation but for posterity. For this task they were 
admirably well qualified. They were perfectly acquainted with 
those of the Parent State, under which they had been early 
tramed, and had tested the modified forms they had temporarily 
adopted themselves on landing in the country. With this double 
experience, they were relieved from the difficulty of invention 
and much of the danger of innovation. They came to the con- 
sideration of these subjects with minds free from all excitement. 
They had obtained no victory, and were not flushed with tri- 
umph. They had no opposition, and were not obstinate. The 
civil power was in their own hands, they could delegate as 
little or as much as they thought expedient to an executive. 
Authority was not demanded, it was conceded. Every indi- 
vidual had a strong personal interest. It depended solely upon 
himself and his own conduct whether he should administer the 
law or should silently submit to its operation. 

Every measure to be adopted was an act of the whole body 
and not a party. Is it then to be wondered at, that with this 
experience they reasoned well, and decided wisely ? 

When we consider that all this occurred mor^ than two 
hundred and thirty years ago, before civilization had made such 
mighty strides as it has in modern times, and that the people 
who then deliberated on the difficult problems of government and 
jurisprudence, though men of strong intellect and good parts, 
nevertheless labored under the great disadvantage of having their 
tempers soured, and their understanding clouded by fanaticism 
and bigotry, we are struck with astonishment at the knowledge 
and consummate skill they displayed in laying the foundations of 
their political fabric ; and if their system of jurisprudence was 
imperfect, it is still infinitely better than could have been ex- 
pected from persons of their peculiar religious belief. 

It is in the annals of these two first Republics of New En- 
gland that we must trace the origin and history of almost every 
institution now existing in the United States, the rise and pro- 
gress of American opinions of federal union with the neighboring 
sovereignties, of a separate jurisdiction and of a central congress. 
At the period of the Revolution, much doubtless was added by 
the great statesmen of the day, beyond what existed in the olden 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 19 

time, but those additions were less conspicuous for their novelty 
and originality (for there was little new in them) than the won- 
derful skill exhibited in their adaptation to the then existing 
state of things, so as to preserve harmony and unity of action. 

To ascribe to Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, or Adams, and 
their contemporaries, the whole merit of the invention and crea- 
tion of that wonderful republic, would be to rob the early planters 
of Massachusetts of their well-earned laurels. There are enough 
for both, let us appropriate them to their respective owners ; and 
in so doing let us not forget to mention those circumstances, and 
they were many and most important, which were purely acci- 
dental, the mere offspring of chance, a work of the hand of 
Providence. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Reformation— Different Conduct of the Protestants and Church of England 
— Religious Differences lead to the Settlement of North America — Division 
of the Country into South and North Virginia — The latter explored by Cap- 
tain Smith, and called New England — Delusive Description of it — Distinction 
between the Nonconfonnists of Leyden who settled New Plymouth, and 
those who founded Massachusetts — Account of Brown, his Principles, and 
Recantations — The Brownists petition for Toleration and are refused — Ob- 
tain a Charter in South Virginia — Settle at New Plymouth by Mistake — Enter 
into a Compact for Self-Governraent — First American Democracy — State of 
it at the End of six Years. 

At the Reformation, the sudden disruption of Papal authority 
naturally occasioned those who had hitherto been accustomed to 
travel in one common road to wander, when released, in various 
directions. What part of Romanism was true, and what false, 
what to be retained or rejected, added or substituted, opened a 
wide field for speculation and controversy. It is not to be won- 
dered at, if men who had long ceased to think on such matters 
lor themselves, found prejudice easier than reason, and thought 
their only safety consisted in getting as far away from the creeds, 
forms, and practices of Popery as possible, and mistook in their 
flight obstinacy for conscience, and submission to authority for a 
compromise of principle. 

In consequence of the celebrated Germanic protest, all those 
both on the Continent and in Britain, who dissented from Popery 
(although distinguished from each other by some peculiar name, 
derived from their teachers or their creeds), assumed the general 
appellation of Protestants. While they made war on the cere- 
monies of Rome, they retained her bigotry, and though they 
denied the power of dispensation to the Pope, they found no dif- 
ficulty in absolving themselves from the obligation of their oaths 
of allegiance to their sovereign. They clamored, and suffered or 
fought for the exercise of private judgment and liberty of con- 
science. This they all united in demanding to its fullest extent ; 
and the singular interpretation they gave these terras is a re- 
markable instance of unanimity among a people who difTered on 
almost every other subject. Each sect claimed exemption from 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 21 

persecution for itself, because it sincerely believed what it professed ; 
but the right to persecute others it by no means renounced, be- 
cause it kneiv its opponents to be wrong. 

The Church of England, on the contrary, which had enjoyed 
its apostolic succession, its orders of priesthood, and its spiritual 
independence in all its primitive purity for six hundred years be- 
fore the aggression of the Roman Pontiff, very properly retained 
its own original name, to which no other body of Christians had 
any title whatever.* She threw off the domination she had 
been too feeble to resist, and the superstitions and human inven- 
tions that had been forced upon her, compiled her Liturgy, and 
settled her doctrine and ceremonies as nearly as possible in ac- 
cordance with those she had held in those centuries that preceded 
the usurpation of Popery. In some or in all of these, furious 
zealots affected to think they discerned too great a resemblance 
still subsisting between the two churches, and stigmatized the 
Prayer-book as antichristian, the surplice as a rag of Babylon, 
and the Holy Communion as the Mass in English. These Prot- 
estants of various shades of opinion were known in Britain under 
the general name of Puritans, and as schism in spiritual things 
naturally leads to tt-mporal disobedience, they were very soon re- 
garded (with what truth their subsequent history discloses but 
too painfully) as disaffected subjects, and treated alternately with 
suspicion or severity. To this state of things may be attributed 
in a great degree the settlement of New England. 

Individual enterprise had hitherto been found unequal to the 
task. Mines of gold and silver constituted the main inducement, 
in the first instance, to explore the country. When the search 
for the precious metals was relaxed or abandoned, attention was 
directed to the fur-trade and the fisheries, from which great 
wealth was derived. But the settlement of the country was a 
slow and expensive operation, not likely to yield an immediate 
return, and liable to be frustrated by a variety of circumstances. 

One hundred and twenty years had elapsed since the discov- 
eries of Cabot, and every attempt at colonization had failed. Com- 
bination, therefore, w^as resorted to, that success might be insured 

* A.D. 1689. Tlie Upper House of Convocation sent down a bill to the 
Lower House, where the English Church was denoaiinated a "Protestant 
Church." The Lower House expunged the word "Protestant," declaring they 
were not in unison with Protestants. 



22 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

by a union of means and an increase of the number of adventur- 
ers. James the First, who was anxious to enlarge the limits of 
his dominions, divided all that portion of the Continent that 
stretches from the 34th to the 45th degree of latitude into two 
immense provinces, of nearly equal size, and denominated them 
Southern and Northern Virginia. The first he granted to an 
association called the London Company, and the second to a 
number of persons of influence and property known as the Ply- 
mouth Company. The supreme government of the colonies that 
were to be settled in this spacious domain was ordered to be 
vested in a council resident in England, and the subordinate juris- 
diction was committed to local boards. The northern portion, 
which was surveyed in 1614, by Captain Smith, was named by 
him New England, and it is to a part of this country only that I 
shall have occasion to refer, at any length. To allure settlers, 
the climate and soil were extolled as consisting of a sort of terres- 
trial paradise, not merely capable of producing all the necessaries 
and conveniences of life, but as already richly furnished by the 
beautiful hand of nature I The air was said to be pure and 
salubrious, the country pleasant and delightful, full of goodly 
forests, fair valleys, and fertile plains, abounding in vines, chest- 
nuts, walnuts, and many other kinds of fruit.* The rivers stored 
with fish and environed with extensive meadows full of timber 
trees. In the rear of this wonderful coast, and at about the dis- 
tance of one hundred miles, it was said "there was a vast lake 
containing four islands, having great store of stags, fallow deer, 
elks, roebucks, beavers and other game, and ofiering the most 
delightful situation in the world for a residence." Whatever 
this interminable forest might contain, it was certain that the 
sea that washed its shores was filled with fish, and numerous and 
valuable cargoes were constantly arriving to silence the doubts 
and awaken the enterprise of the mercantile community. The 
distracted and unsettled state of men's minds on the subject of 
religion led many enthusiasts to think of the country as an 
asylum, who gladly entered into an enterprise that offered at 
once the prospect of gain and an exemption from ecclesiastical 
control. Accordingly, two considerable parties of fanatical ad- 
venturers migrated thither — the Separatists of Leyden called 
Brownists, and English Nonconformists. The former settled at 
Plymouth, and the latter at Massachusetts Bay. 

* See Belknap's "Life of Ferdinando Georges. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 23 

The means, character, and station of these two were widely 
different, and though they are often considered as one people, and 
erroneonsly spoken of under the general name of Pilgrims, it is 
necessary to bear this distinction in mind. The first are repre- 
sented as men of great zeal but of little knowledge. Many of 
the others were gentlemen and scholars, whose humility was not 
the result of their poverty but their pride. The one had already 
separated from their Church and quitted their native country be- 
fore they came to America. The others having more to lose, for 
they were men of no inconsiderable fortune, were less frank in 
avowing their opinions and less precipitate in their conduct, and 
outwardly conibrmed to the ceremonies of the Established Church 
until their embarkation. They had not assumed the name of 
Puritans themselves, nor was it applied to them by others. Their 
dissent, as well as their real object in emigrating,* was so well 
concealed from their co-partners in trade in England, and from 
the King's government, that they were not only not suspected of 
schism, but actually intrusted with the duty and enjoined as a 
condition of their charter to spread the Gospel. 

The Separatists of Leyden, on the contrary, were well-known 
Dissenters, who had fled to Holland to avoid the penalties of the 
law. They were followers of the celebrated Brown, from whom 
they derived their name. This enthusiast was a man of quality, 
connected with several noble families ; and the defection of such 
a person is always hailed with delight by the vulgar, as an evi- 
dence of great manliness on the one hand, and as a useful instru- 
ment of mischief on the other. Though many others were 
equally audacious, and far more eloquent and learned, their names 
have not survived their own generation. To his station alone is he 
indebted for the remembrance of his guilty secession. He aspired 
and attained to the honor of founding a sect. It was a period 
when every absurdity found an admirer, but he was determined 
to go as far as possible, and reached a point beyond which was 
the precipice that overhangs infidelity. He condemned the gov- 
ernment of bishops, the ordination of ministers, and the offices, 
rites, and ceremonies of the public Liturgy. He maintained that 
the Church of England was neither lawful nor true, and that all 

* So habitual was their reserve to the English partners, and so effectually did 
they conceal or disguise their opinions, that at the very time they were plotting 
the downfall and death of Laud, that prelate assured, the King that several 
bishops, of very extensive dioceses, had reported to him there was not a single 
Dissenter to be found within their jurisdiction. 



24 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

Christians were bound to come out of Babylon and join him and 
his disciples, among whom there was nothing to be found that 
savored not directly of the Spirit of God * Having seduced 
those infatuated people from their Church, and caused them to 
fly from their native land, his success satisfied his ambition, and 
his enthusiasm expired for want of novelty. What was the 
astonishment of his deluded followers, when they heard that he 
had recanted his errors, submitted to his bishops, and rejoined 
the establishment. They then began to observe, what they had 
either not noticed before or had disregarded as unimportant, that 
he had a wife with whom he never lived, a church in which he 
never preached, though paid for the duties, and a congregation 
whom he neglected though he did not omit to collect and receive 
his tithes. Revenge quickens the senses, and magnifies every 
object it beholds. They were astonished at such enormities, and 
regarded their idol rather as a demon than a saint. They imme- 
diately disowned his name, spurned the appellation of Brownists, 
and called themselves Congregationalists. Their situation at 
Leyden had become uncomfortable for them, and they were ap- 
prehensive they should be absorbed in a foreign population. 
Their means also were greatly reduced, and they saw no mode 
by which they could be recruited. They sensibly felt the effects 
on their zeal of the neglect or indifference of the Dutch. 

So long as they were opposed or punished in England, it was 
easy for their leaders to feed the flame of their sectarian ardor by 
appealing to their passions as men, and they derived a secret 
satisfaction in plotting the ruin of their rulers, both in State and 
Church, and in retaliating upon them the injuries, whether real 
or imaginary, they suffered at their hands. The moment the 
union for common defense was dissolved by repose, one great in- 
centive to fanaticism was destroyed. Their vanity was no longer 
flattered by the sympathy of a crowd who had regarded them as 
martyrs ; and their learning was not such as to attract the ap- 
plause or even the notice of continental scholars. In this state 
of depression they turned their eyes toward America, and sending 
agents to England, they applied to the Virginia Company for a 
patent of part of their territory, saying " they were well weaned 
from the delicate milk of their mother country, and inured to the 
difficulties of a strange land." They E^ssured them they were 
knit together by a strict and sacred band, by virtue of which 

* FuUer. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 25 

they held themselves bound to take care of the good of each 
other, and of the whole ; and that it was not with them as with 
other men whom small things could discourage, or small discon- 
tents cause to wish themselves at home again. Though their 
agents found the company very desirous of promoting the pro- 
jected settlement in their territory, and willing to grant them a 
patent with as ample privileges as it was in their power to con- 
vey, they could not prevail upon the king to give them a public 
toleration for their dissent, and they returned greatly disconcerted 
to their sorrowing friends. 

The following year they determined to take their chance for 
toleration, judging very wisely that distance was a sufficient 
guarantee for their safety, and accepted the patent without press- 
ing their petition to the king for his protection. It was there- 
fore agreed that a portion of them should proceed to America, 
and make preparations for the reception of the rest. The part- 
ing scene is described as an affecting one. Their clergyman, Mr. 
Robinson, was a pious and exemplary man, and his correspond- 
ence with this little body of pioneers shows how much the causes 
to which I have alluded had softened the feelings and lowered 
the extravagant language to which they had been accustomed. 
These letters, which are still extant, do equal honor to his head 
and heart. His last words of advice to his departing flock prove 
how deeply he was mortified by the desertion of their leader, and 
how much opprobrium and ridicule must have attached to 
them, arising from his return to the Established Church, and his 
conforming to its doctrines and discipline. " I must advise you," 
he said, "to abandon, avoid, and shake oft' the name of Brown- 
ists : it is a mere nickname and a brand for making religion and 
the professors of it odious to the Christian world." Several of 
their number now sold their estates and made a common bank, 
which, together with money received from other adventurers who 
entered into the joint stock speculation, enabled them to emigrate 
and commence a plantation in due form. On the 10th day of 
November, 1620, the Leyden adventurers anchored in America, 
and, late in December, having found a convenient harbor and a 
suitable spot for settlement, landed and commenced building a 
village which, in token of their gratitude for the hospitality ex- 
tended to them by their friends at the last port of embarkation, 
they called Plymouth. 

B 



26 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

Finding this place to be beyond the Hmits of the Virginia com- 
pany, they perceived at once that their patent was useless ; symp- 
toms of faction, at the same time appearing among the servants on 
board, who imagined that when on shore they should be under no 
government, it was judged expedient that before landing they should 
form themselves into a body pohtic, to be governed by the major- 
ity. After solemn prayer and thanksgiving, a written instrument 
was drawn up for that purpose, and subscribed on board the ship 
on the 11th of November, 1620. This contract was signed by 
forty-one of the emigrants who, with their families, amounted to 
one hundred and one persons. This singular document is as fol- 
lows : — " In the name of God. Amen. We, whose names are 
undersigned, the loyal subjects of our Sovereign Lord King James, 
&c., &c., having undertaken, for the glory of God and advance- 
ment of the Christian faith and honor of our King and country, a 
voyage to plant the first colony in the northern part of Virginia, 
do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the presence of 
God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together 
into a civil body politic for our better ordering and preservation, 
and furtherance of the ends aforesaid, and by virtue hereof do 
enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, 
acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be 
thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the 
colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." 
They then proceeded to elect a Governor and choose subordinate 
officers. Thus did these people find means to erect themselves 
into a republic, even though they had commenced the enterprise 
under the sanction of a charter. 

In the true spirit of separatists they founded their Commonwealth 
in disobedience or defiance of royal authority, for they were ex- 
pressly denied a guarantee for the toleration of Sectarianism, and 
they commenced their plantation at a place which they knew be- 
longed either to the king or another company. It was a self- 
created independent democratic government. The office of gov- 
ernor was annual and elective, but their pastor at Leyden very 
prudently advised them, as their number was so small, to intrust 
the whole power at first to that functionary, until they were 
populous enough to add a council and constitute a legislature, 
quaintly observing: "that one Nehemiah was better than a 
whole Sanhedrim of mercenary Shemiahs." Their patent gave 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 27 

a title to the soil, bat prerogatives of government according to the 
ideas of the English lawyers could only be exercised under a charter 
from the crown. A considerable sum was spent in the endeavor 
to obtain such a charter, but without success. Relying, however, 
upon their original compact, the colonists gradually assumed all 
the prerogatives of government, even the power, after some hesita- 
tion, of capital punishment. No less than eight offenses are enu- 
merated in the first Plymouth Code as punishable with death, in- 
cluding treason or rebellion against the colony, and " solemn com- 
paction or conversing with the devil." Trial by jury was early 
introduced, but the penalties to be inflicted on minor offenses 
remained for the most part discretionary. For eighteen years 
all laws were enacted in a general assembly of all the colonists. 
The governor, chosen annually, was but president of a council, in 
which he had a double vote. It consisted first of one, then of 
five, and finally of seven members called assistants. So little 
were political honors coveted at New Plymouth, that it became 
necessary to inflict a fine upon such as, being chosen, declined to 
accept the office of governor or assistant. None, however, were 
obliged to serve for two years in succession.* 

They were often not only destitute of money, but equally de- 
void of credit : for in 1686 having occasion to borrow one hundred 
and fifty pounds, the risk was considered so great that they could 
only procure it at the enormous interest of fifty per cent. Nor 
did the town flourish as was expected from one erected in a 
country like Canaan. At the end of four years, one hundred and 
eighty persons inhabited a village composed of thirty-two dwell- 
ing-houses where there " strayed some cattle and goats, but many 
swine and poultry." This was doubtless owing to the uninviting 
character of the country, and the repulsive austerity of manners 
of the first settlers ; but more than all, to the mistaken policy of 
holding their property, not in severalty, but as joint stock. Their 
poverty, however, proved their best security, by procuring for 
them a contemptuous neglect, that left them the uninterrupted 
enjoyment of their little democratic commonwealth until 1692, 
when it was absorbed by the second charter of Massachusetts, 
which amiexed it to that populous and flourishing province. 

* Hildreth. 



CHAPTER III. 

Inducements to settle Massachujsetts — Puritans prevail upon the King to give 
them a Charter, under the Idea that they were Churchmen — Some Account of 
it — Endicott settles Salem — Disturbs Morton, cuts doven May-pole, and calls 
the Place Mount Dragon — Founds a Church on Congregational Principles — 
Arrests and transports Episcopalians — Intrigue for removing the Charter to 
America and Discussion thereon — Reasoning of the Emigrants on the Subject 
of Allegiance — Removing of Charter — Large Immigrations — Cost of Outfit — 
Address to the Clergy of England — Character of the Puritans. 

The settlement at Plymouth, and the exaggerated accounts of 
its condition and prospects spread by the emigrants, to induce 
others to join them, attracted universal attention. Puritanism 
had not then assumed a distinct form, although its ramifications 
were widely spread beneath the surface. It was not deemed 
safe by that party openly to connect themselves with people, who 
had commenced their settlement without a title, and were avow- 
edly separated from the Church. It was left, therefore, to its 
natural increase, and to unconnected and individual emigration. 
But the leaders of this discontented party saw that something of 
the kind could be effected upon a large scale, if their real inten- 
tions were properly masked in the first instance. There were at 
that time three objects that occupied men's minds in connection 
with emigration. First, to avoid ecclesiastical control ; secondly, 
to spread the gospel among the savages ; and thirdly, to aid and 
further commercial pursuits. Each had its advocates, and for 
each, men were willing to advance the requisite funds, and incur 
the inevitable risk. The most able, artful, persevering, and in- 
fluential of these parties were the Puritans. Calling themselves 
churchmen, they eulogized the liberality, and encouraged the 
ardor of those who, in attempting to employ a trading company 
to convert the heathen, exhibited more zeal than knowledge. To 
those who were inclined to seek their fortunes in the New World 
as husbandmen, they praised the soil, extolled the climate, and 
dwelt on the advantage of living in a country exempt from taxes, 
in the capacity of proprietors, and not as tenants. To merchants 
who regard trapping beavers with more interest than taming sav- 
ages, it was only necessary to mention the advantage navigation 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 29 

would derive from a port in a distant land, where provisions could 
be procured and ships repaired, or laid up in safety in vi'inter. 

It was one of the best vailed, deepest laid, and most skillfully 
executed schemes to be met with in history. After these three 
parties were engaged in the work, and had pledged their funds to 
forward the undertaking, they purchased from the Council of 
Plymouth all the territory extending from three miles north of the 
river Merrimack, to three miles south of Charles River, and in 
breadth from the Atlantic to the Southern Ocean. Their legal 
advisers, however, expressed some doubts as to the propriety of 
founding a colony on the basis of a grant from a private company 
of patentees, who might convey a right of property in the soil, 
but could not confer the jurisdiction or privilege of governing that 
society, which they contemplated to establish. As it was only 
from royal authority such powers could be derived, it became 
necessary for them to lose no time in making their application to 
the king. But how was he to be won over and cajoled ] They 
were aware that he was open to flattery, but they knew also that 
he was suspicious of Low Churchmen, whom he very justly consid- 
ered as little better than Dissenters ; that he was surrounded by 
able counselors, and alive to his own interest and that of the 
State. The task was a difficult one, but as its success was in- 
dispensable to their future objects, they approached it with the 
firmness and courage of determined men. With the most un- 
blushing effrontery they spoke to him of their dear Mother Church 
in terms of great affection and regard, enlarged upon his duty to 
christianize the heathen, who all over the world were falling a 
prey to the Jesuits, while discontented Protestants were quarrel- 
ing about small matters of forms. They descanted with great 
apparent sincerity upon the danger of leaving the Continent open 
to other nations to intrude upon, and portrayed in glowing terms 
the vast advantages that would accrue to his Majesty's treasury 
from an increase of commerce. The king was delighted to find that 
the doubts he had entertained of the loyalty and orthodoxy of some 
of the company were groundless, and the offer to extend the limits 
of his dominions, to plant his Church in America, and, by stimu- 
lating commerce, to add to his revenue (whioh was very inade- 
quate to his wants), was too agreeable to be refused. A charter 
of confirmation was, therefore, granted to his loving subjects, 
dated 4th March, 1628. 



30 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

By this patent the company was incorporated by the name of 
" The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, in New 
England," to have perpetual succession, to choose a Governor, 
Deputy Governor, and eighteen assistants, on the last Wednesday 
in Easter Term yearly, and to make laws, not repugnant to those 
of England, "whereby," to use the words of the king in the pa- 
tent, " our said people inhabiting there may be so religiously, 
peaceably, and civilly governed, as their good life and orderly con- 
versation may win and invite the natives of that country to the 
knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of 
mankind and tlie Christian foAth, ivhich, in 02ir royal intention^ 
and the adventurers' free •profession, is the 'principal end of this 
plantation .'' The governor and assistants were required to ad- 
minister the oaths of supremacy and allegiance to all persons who 
from time to time should go thither. As a compensation for the 
great outlay which they would necessarily incur in so onerous an 
undertaking, they were exempted from all taxes and subsidies for 
seven years within the colony, and from custom duties in En- 
gland for the space of twenty years. 

While these negotiations were going on, the company dispatch- 
ed a small party under Endicott, an active and zealous agent, 
but an imprudent and violent man, to select a place for settle- 
ment. The part he made choice of was known by the natives as 
Hanekeag, which, according to the afiectation of his sect, to employ 
the language and appellations of Scripture in the common affairs 
of life, he called Salem. He was particularly cautioned not to com- 
mit any rash act at that juncture, as it was the intention as well 
as the interest of the association, "to keep an obsequious eye to 
the State ;" his first measure, however, was an illegal invasion 
of a neighboring plantation. A man of the name of Morton resided 
not far off, on lands held under a patent from the same Great 
Plymouth Company, from which they themselves derived their 
title. This place, in a most godless manner, he ventured to call 
*' Merry Mount," and decorated it with a may-pole, the first real 
"liberty staff" ever erected in New England. Such a scandal 
in the eyes of this rueful agent justified invasion. He and his 
party proceeded thither, removed the abomination, and threatened 
to disperse the people whose profaneness shocked his own asso- 
ciates, and set a dangerous example to the savages. To testify his 
horror at their impiety, he named their abode " Mount Dragon." 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 31 

Among those who soon after joined Endicott, were two gen- 
tlemen of the name of Brown, men of large property, original 
patentees, and of most unexceptionable conduct. Duped by the 
professions of the Puritans, who called themselves Episcopalians, 
who spoke of the Church as " Their dear Mother," who avowed 
their motives to be the advancement of religion, and had accept- 
ed the charter on condition of taking the oaths of supremacy and 
allegiance, they never for a moment supposed they could be the 
victims of treachery. They were appointed councilors to Endi- 
cott, who had been advanced to the rank of governor, and were 
especially recommended to his " favor and furtherance." They 
had sincerely at heart one of the main objects of the association, 
and the only one that had induced them to take any interest in 
the company, the evangeUzing the heathen. To their horror 
they soon found they had been entrapped into a sectarian league, 
in which it was difficult at that time to say whether trade or 
puritanism was most predominant. But it was manifest to them 
that instead of there existing any intention in the local board to 
spread the Gospel, their object was to confine it within the small- 
est possible limits, as in their opinion a chosen people, like them- 
selves, were the best depository for that which was designed 
rather for the elect, than for mankind. 

The governor had been advised by the separatists at Plymouth, 
to lose no time in organizing a Church, and accordingly a confes- 
sion of iaith was drawn up, and signed by him and his party. 
In this first transaction, they displayed the extent of the innova- 
tion at which they aimed. They elected a pastor, a teacher, 
and an elder, whom they set apart for their respective offices by 
imposition of hands of the brethren ; and they resolved that no 
person should thereafter be received into communion, until he 
gave satisfaction to the society with respect to his faith and 
sanctity. The form of worship they instituted was without a 
liturgy, disencumbered of every superfluous ceremony, and re- 
duced to the most extreme standard of Calvinistic simplicity. 
The Browns, however, and their friends met as usual on Sunday, 
and read the service and offices for the day from the Prayer-book. 
For this offense they were summoned to appear before the gov- 
ernor, and answer for their contumelious conduct, and heretical 
doctrine. At the time appointed they expostulated with their 
bigoted and arbitrary ruler. They told him they were Episco- 



32 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

palians (as they had believed, when they entered into the asso- 
ciation, every other member was) ; that they thought so wide a 
departure from the charter and their oaths, as exhibited by the 
covenant which they had so recently executed, would lead to the 
lowest forms of dissent, and eventually terminate in the loss of 
their patent. At all events, they said, to belong to the National 
Church was not a criminal act in any part of the king's do- 
minions ; that their charter reserved to them all the rights of 
British subjects, and above all, expressly forbade them from 
making any law repugnant to those of England. 

They were given to understand in very violent language, that 
they were not in Europe, but in America, and that though they 
might be right as to its not being illegal to profess the doctrine 
of the establishment, yet creating divisions (which separation did) 
was a serious offense, and very dangerous in its tendency. They 
were accordingly sentenced to close confinement, and to be trans- 
ported back to London by the first vessel. While their persons 
were thus secured, their desks were forced, and their letters to 
their private friends abstracted, for the purpose " of preventing 
the reputation of the colony from being injured." Bancroft, their 
devoted admirer and apologist, thus condenses the reasons of the 
colonists for this persecution.* " Should the emigrants give up 
the very purpose for which they had crossed the Atlantic ? 
should hierarchy intrude upon their devotions in the forests of 
Massachusetts ? They deemed the co-existence of prelacy and 
their liberty impossible. Anticipating an invasion of their rights, 
they feared the adherents of the estabhshment, as spies in the 
camp, and the form of religion from which they had sufiered was 
repelled, not as a sect but as a tyranny. They were banished 
from Salem because they were Churchmen. Thus was Episco- 
pacy first professed in New England, and thus was it exiled." 

On their release in their native country, the Browns remon- 
strated bitterly against the perversion of the charter by so gross 
an outrage committed on themselves. The company, with a 
caution and adroitness that never forsook them, and ever after 
formed their most striking characteristic, stifled the complaint by 
having it referred to arbitration, and escaped animadversion by 
withdrawing it from public discussion.! The Browns found in 

* History of the United States, vol. ii. p. 349. 

t Hutchinson says the result of this reference is not known. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 33 

the course of these proceedings the whole aspect of affairs changed. 
Many of the original shareholders had sold out or lost their 
interest in the speculation. Every thing was managed with 
such secrecy by a few influential members, that it was manifest 
some very serious and dangerous plot was in agitation, and they 
quitted the company in disgust. Their suspicions were soon 
justified, by one of the most singular events in the history of En- 
gland, and by far the most important one in that of America, the 
fraudulent and clandestine removal of the charter to Massachusetts. 

We have seen how the king and the Church were duped as to 
the real objects of the association. The merchant adventurers 
were equally deluded. Their contributions were spent in found- 
ing a colony ; no trade was ever carried on for their joint ac- 
count, or ever intended to be, and at the end of seven years the 
partnership was closed and no dividend whatever declared, or 
any compensation made to the unfortunate absentees by those 
who had possessed themselves of the whole property. The re- 
peated instances of duplicity in which they had succeeded, paved 
the way for the seizure of the patent, an act that surpassed them 
all in boldness of design and dexterity of execution. Several 
persons of station and means attached to the party who, as it has 
been well observed, " feared more than they sufiered," privately 
tampered with the governor, Mr. Craddock, and offered to emi- 
grate with their families provided the charter could be removed 
w^ith them. With this important instrument in their hands, 
three thousand miles away from the Star Chamber and visitorial 
power of the king, they said they would feel secure from intru- 
sion. Craddock, knowing how much better their affairs would 
be managed by a local administration, fell into their views, and 
at a meeting at the general court in London, in 1629, proposed 
to the board " for the advancing the plantations, for the inducing 
of persons of wealth and quality to remove thither, and for other 
weightij reasons, to transfer the government to those who shall 
inhabit them, and to continue no longer the same subordination 
to the company here." 

Such an extraordinary proposition naturally led to a warm 
debate. Those who were not in the plot were taken by surprise, 
and argued the point as if it had not been predetermined upon.* 

* Hutchinson (vol. i. p. 18) says, " Ifc is evident from the Charter, that the 
original design of it was, to constitute a corporation in England like to that of 



34 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

They said their charter, Hke those of all other trading- associa- 
tions, and especially like that of the East India Company, was 
intended to be kept, and its officers to meet in England ; that to 
remove it w^ould be utterly useless, for it was not a constitution, 
but a corporation, and wholly inapplicable to the purposes of a 
civil government, which it never contemplated ; that it contained 
no provision for a judicature, or executive body, or a legislature ; 
that a whole people, though freemen, could not assemble four 
times a year, and there was no power of delegation given to 
them ; but above all that it was a flagrant act of usurpation, 
and a daring attempt to infringe upon the king's rights. The 
conspirators affected to be strongly impressed with these powerful 
reasons, and said there was so much weight in them that they 
would consult counsel, and for that purpose adjourned the meet- 
ing, having first agreed, however, " To carry the matter secret, 
that it be not divulged." 

This opposition and delay having been foreseen, was provided 
against. They had taken the precaution to retain a puritan 
lawyer, of the name of White, whose, knowledge seems to have 
been on a level with his honesty, who had an opinion on the 
subject already prepared ; and at the next court it was resolved 
" That the government of the colony be transferred to New En- 
gland." This decision, however, was far from being satisfactory 
to all the members. There were many present who had adven- 
tured their money, that had no idea of emigrating, and who did 
not like to have both their property and patent transferred to 
another hemisphere. An attempt to compromise was made by 
resolving that " the government of persons" should be established 
in Massachusetts, and " the government of trade and merchan- 
dise" be retained in London. Professions and promises were so 
familiar with the conspirators, that they obtained their purpose 
by resorting to them now. The " planters" undertook and en- 

the East India and other great companies, with power to settle plantations 
within the limits of the territory, under such forms of government, and magis- 
tracy, as should be fit and necessary." Bancroft (Hist. vol. i. p. 384), speaking 
of Sir Harry Vane, says, " His clear mind, unbiassed by previous discussions, 
and fresh from the public business of England, saw distinctly what the colonists 
did not wish to see, the really wide difference between the practice under their 
Charter, and the meaning of the instrument on the principles of English juris- 
prudence." Kent and Story are of the same opinion, and so is Robertson. See 
his " History of America," vol. iv. p. 282. Indeed the only wonder is, that any 
person could be found to think it even admitted of a doubt. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 35 

gaged with the " adventurers," for so the respective resident and 
non-resident parties were designated, to divide the whole joint 
stock, with all its vast accumulations, at the end of seven years, 
and pay over or assign to each proprietor his respective share. 
A fortune at the end of seven years they considered better than 
a present quarrel, and they yielded. It was the last they ever 
saw of the emigrants, and all that they ever heard of their trans- 
atlantic stock. 

Such has ever been the fate of a union between hypocrisy and 
avarice. The regular habits, devout conduct, and high profes- 
sions of the former, seldom fail in obtaining the control of the 
funds, and the temptation to appropriate them is too strong for 
simulated honesty. However humiliating to sectarians the fact 
may be, it must be admitted that dissent thus set the first ex- 
ample of absconding to America with partnership effects. Having 
equally deprived the king, the Church, the savages, and the 
" adventurers" of their rights, it was necessary now to delude 
themselves, and silence, if possible, their own scruples, if their 
doubts deserve such a respectable name. A new, important, 
and very difficult question arose for their consideration, in what 
relation were they to stand to the mother country ? Most of the 
proprietors held that they had a perfect right without any charter 
from the crown, to establish such sort of government as they 
thought proper, and to form a new commonwealth, as fully as if 
they were in a state of nature, and were making their first en- 
trance into civil society. 

Men who can justify a separation from their Church, and see 
no sin in schism, can soon satisfy themselves that fealty is a local, 
and not a general duty. With respect to implied allegiance, the 
only true and sensible view of the matter, it was argued, was 
that subjection was of two kinds, necessary and voluntary. From 
actual residence within any government, there naturally arose an 
obligation to submit to the laws and authority thereof But 
birth was no necessary cause of allegiance. The subjects of any 
prince or nation had a perfect right to remove to any other state 
or part of the world, unless their own country were weakened or 
exposed by such removal, and even in that case if they were de- 
prived of liberty of conscience it would justify a separation, and 
"upon their departure their co-relative obedience determined and 
ceased altogether. The country to which they were about to 



36 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

remove was claimed and possessed by absolute princes, whose 
title to the lordship and sovereignty thereof had been acknowl- 
edged by kings of England, by purchasing some portion of their 
territory ; this they also proposed to do, and then they would 
stand in their place, as original and independent proprietors of 
the soil. It was obvious, therefore, they said, that as their mi- 
gration from England would terminate their necessary civil sub- 
jection, their patent would be a great protection, not merely 
from foreign aggression but from the king himself; for at most it 
would only create a voluntary sort of dependence, and if any 
question should arise as to its nature and extent, it must be de- 
cided by the document itself. Their situation, and that of the 
people of London, it was argued, was widely different. The 
compact between the sovereign and the inhabitants of that city, 
as contained in its charter, was not the origin of their allegiance, 
but their actual residence, and so soon as any of them removed 
out of the kingdom, that necessary subjection immediately changed 
its nature, and became optional. 

Now what would be the character of the new relation in 
which they would stand to the king ? for that was an important 
question. It was, they said, simply an understanding, not to 
subject themselves to, or seek protection from any other princes, 
and this they were willing to promise. Having silenced or satis- 
fied their apprehensions by this mode of reasoning, and assured 
themselves that accepting their patent involved no compromise 
of this liberty, they set themselves to work in earnest to prepare 
for embarkation. A fleet of fourteen sail was assembled for the 
transportation of fifteen hundred passengers, and on the sixth day 
of July twelve of the ships arrived at Massachusetts Bay, con- 
veying the governor, the officers of the Commonwealth, and the 
charter. The expense of this equipment amounted to twenty- 
one thousand two hundred pounds sterling.* 

On the 19th of October, 1630, the first General Court was 
held at Boston, where the charter was produced, and publicly 
read to the assembled people, amid the most profound bilence, and 
listened to with the deepest emotions of veneration and delight 
by those whose independence its removal had effectually secured. 
This was the commencement of the republic of Massachusetts. 

* The expense of settling this colony amounted, dui-ing the first twelve years, 
to two hundred thousand pounds. See 1st Douglas, 428. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 37 

It was founded on democratic principles, guarded with the most 
zealous vigilance, and supported and extended with cautious, but 
determined resolution ; when they surveyed their situation they 
felt assured they had nothing to fear from within. They were 
all democrats, and alike hostile to the Church and State they 
had so cheerfully abandoned at home. But when they reflected 
on their isolated situation, the inadequacy of their means to such 
a vast undertaking as setthng a community of strangers in a 
wilderness, the distrust with which they knew they would be re- 
garded by the Church, and the indignation which the removal of 
their charter would naturally excite in the Court, they were 
alarmed, but such was their courage and self reliance, they were 
not dismayed or discouraged. They apprehended danger from 
three sources, the Crown, the Hierarchy, and the Parliament, as 
they were equally dreaded, and hated ; they continued until the 
close of the war of independence, in 1783, to be objects of their 
peculiar aversion. 

The deception practiced by these people throughout the whole 
of their negotiation in England, seems to admit of no further ad- 
dition, but their very last act was to publish a manifesto to the 
clergy of the Established Church, assuring them that they were 
in fact and in heart members of the same communion, and solicit- 
ed their prayers and their blessings on this undertaking. They 
entreated them to believe, to use their own words : " that they 
esteemed it their honor to call the Church of England their dear 
mother, and they could not leave the country where she resided 
without tears in their eyes. We leave it not, therefore," they 
said, " as loathing that milk wherewith we were nourished there. 
But blessing God for the parentage and education, and as mem- 
bers of the same body shall rejoice in her good, and while we 
have breath, sincerely desire and endeavor the continuance and 
abundance of her welfare, with the enlargement of her bounds 
in the kingdom of Jesus Christ,"* and much more to the same 
effect. History can scarcely furnish such an instance of consum- 
mate hypocrisy. 

The accounts of their early settlement in general circulation 
are chiefly those written by themselves or their descendants, who 
are their eulogists. Such being the case, truth can only be as- 

* See the original letter in Book ii. Chap. 7, of this work. 



38 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

certained by a careful examination of original documents and ob- 
solete contemporaneous works. They were always anxious to be 
considered as martyrs, and laid claim to all that is noble in con- 
duct, exalted in principle, and pure in religion, while the sover- 
eign whom they duped, has been represented as a tyrant, and the 
prelates, whom they publicly flattered and privately traduced, 
have been held up to the world as cruel and senseless bigots. 
There was no doubt much in the conduct of the king that can 
not be justified, and in the hierarchy of the day that is deeply to 
be regretted, but rebellious subjects compel monarchs to be cruel 
in self-defense, and a priest may well be excused, if he thinks 
schism aggravated by deception and falsehood. 

The object of this extraordinary manifesto is evident enough, 
but neither the persecution of the old, nor thp possession of the 
new world, justifies them in sacrificing that, without which life 
in either hemisphere would find no security but in brute force. 
It has been said in extenuation of their conduct, that they had 
not formally seceded from the Church, at the time they circulated 
this valedictory address. The answer is, Congregationalism they 
knew had already been adopted at Salem before they left England, 
by their agent Endicott, and subsequently confirmed by their ap- 
probation. And, furthermore, that as soon as they could possibly 
devote a day to it, from their indispensable duties, they again es- 
tablished it at Boston and Cambridge, with the utmost unanim- 
ity among the people, and the consent of every man that signed 
that touching appeal to their " Dear Brethren." 

Such were the people who laid the foundation of republicanism 
in America. There is much in their conduct to admire and 
applaud, and much to reprove and condemn. The bright lights 
and dark shades of their character are in such contrast, that, to 
do them justice and preserve the impartiality of history, it will 
be difficult to avoid the charge of inconsistency, so different must 
the language occasionally be, that is extorted by truth on the one 
hand, or awarded by slander on the other. If, therefore, the 
meed of panegyric, to which they are often justly entitled, shall 
seem irreconcilable with the terms in which their duplicity, ob- 
stinacy, and cruelty are denounced, it must be recollected that 
their defects, no less than their virtues, contributed to form that 
indomitable character for dogged resolution, without which they 
never would have been non-conformists in England, or republi- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 39 

cans in America. To overlook these distinctions would betray a 
total ignorance of human nature ; to attempt to palliate or con- 
ceal them, would lead to the suspicion that disingenousness is 
infectious, and that it can not even be contemplated without dan- 
ger. They have alternately been the subject of extravagant 
eulogy, or unmitigated abuse, according to the medium of relig- 
ious or political prejudice, through which they have been view- 
ed. Nothing can be further from the truth than either of these 
extreme opinions. Their character, like that of most men, was 
mixed, but unlike that of any other people, was distinguished for 
qualities so totally opposite, and yet so strongly developed and so 
powerfully contrasted, that it is difficult to imagine how they 
could be combined without neutralizing each other. Their con- 
duct exhibits so much despotism, and so ardent a love of liberty, 
so great a degree of superstition, and so much practical good sense, 
such refined casuistry, and Jesuitical double-dealing, united with 
extraordinary frankness and manly behavior, so little regard for 
the form of jurisprudence, and so warm an attachment to con- 
stitutional law, so much impatience of restraint or interference 
from others, with such a strong predilection to intermeddle with 
or control their neighbors, that general terms are manifestly in- 
applicable to them. Their acts must be separately considered, 
and severally praised or censured according to their deserts. In 
searching for the causes that led to the formation and develop- 
ment of this extraordinary character, we must regard their con- 
dition in their native country, and the circumstances that mould- 
ed their opinions, and called forth the peculiarities that I have 
alluded to. 

At the period of their leaving England, the great majority of 
them, though conforming to the Established Church, were at 
heart dissentients, having undergone the probation of complying, 
but not agreeing ; obeying but not respecting ; combining but 
not uniting ; assembling in churches where every thing that 
they saw or heard shocked them as unscriptural and superstitious, 
using the Prayer-book but rejecting it as papistical, listening to 
clergymen whose authority they despised and whose doctrine 
they denied ; and above all, to bishops whom they believed to 
be neither Papists nor Protestants, but amphibious beings clothed 
in all the frippery, and practicing all the mummery of the first, 
without possessing their antiquity or authority, and yet claiming 



40 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

to belong to the other, without having the purity of their doctrine, 
the simple rigor of their discipline, or the independence of their 
self-government. Nothing can be more destructive of true piety, 
ingenuous conduct, and simplicity of mind, than insincere con- 
formity, when either adopted from prudential motives, or sub- 
mitted to from compulsion. Pretending to be what we are not, 
and holding out ourselves to the government or to the world as 
Churchmen, when in reality we are Dissenters or Romanists, is, 
in fact, hypocrisy, and no man can long wear that garb, without 
a total change in his character. The essence of hypocrisy is 
falsehood. If a man inclines to the belief, that simulated com- 
pliance with unsound doctrines, or unscriptural churches, is de- 
fensible, he naturally seeks for plausible reasons to satisfy his own 
scruples, and if he succeed in deceiving himself, the inevitable 
tendency of his mind is to attempt to deceive others. 

Dissent is progressive. When privately indulged for any length 
of time it grows too burdensome for a secret, and requires to be 
acknowledged, and when announced it assumes a new name and 
a new form, and ripens into secession. Its waters, however, are 
then drugged with bitterness and strife, and whoever drinks of 
them soon finds their baneful operation on his temper, on the 
affections of his heart, and in all his social relations of life, while 
he experiences a sympathetic change on his political creed, and 
becomes familiarized with violent and seditious measures. De- 
manding a charitable construction on his own motives and con- 
duct, he is not willing to concede it to others ; and as people sel- 
dom forgive those whom they have injured, he views the mem- 
bers of the church he has left with all the acrimony of an enemy, 
and all the vindictive energy of an insulted and outraged friend. 
To the forced compliance or voluntary nonconformity of the 
Pilgrim Fathers, as well as the cold Calvinistic tenets of their 
faith, maybe traced their austere manners and gloomy dispositions 
their subtle reasoning and adroit evasions, their unrelenting per- 
secutions, numerous banishments, and barbarous executions, their 
unmitigated hatred of episcopacy, and deep-rooted aversion to 
monarchical institutions. On the other hand, their patience 
under toil, privation, and suffering, their indomitable courage in 
resisting the numerous enemies, and overcoming the many diffi- 
culties with which they were surrounded, their energy, industry, 
and enterprise, their love of independence, their hospitality, bcuevo- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 41 

lence, and public and private liberality, the unity that prevailed 
among themselves, their brotherly affection for each other, and 
many other correlative qualities, are attributable in part to the 
Anglo-Saxon stock from M^hich they sprang, and in part to the 
requirements and incidents of a forest home in a new world. But 
their frugality, temperance, purity of morals, simplicity of man- 
ners, respect for the authorities of their little State, both civil and 
religious, and similar virtues, were all their own. 

Such a careful analysis is due both to their character, and the 
faithfulness of this narrative. In order to make that intelligible, 
which is otherwise irreconcilable, it is necessary to seek for the 
springs of action that lie beneath the surface, for conduct can 
only be duly appreciated by its motives, and effects be fully esti- 
mated by tracing them to their real causes. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Reasoning of the first Settlers as to their Independence — The Colony becomes 
a Republic from Necessity — Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance dispensed 
with— They decline to set up the King's Arms — Mutilate the Flag — Drinking 
Healths abolished— Blackstone's Remarks about the Lord's Brethren — Order 
that none but Church Members be admitted to be Fi'eemen — Another, forbid- 
ding a Stranger to settle in the Colony without a License — Petitioning the 
King called slandering the Brethren — Punishment of Morton, Sir Christopher 
Gardener, and RatclifFe — Morton publishes a Satire at Amsterdam — Returns 
to Massachusetts — Is fined and banished again — Intimate Connection between 
their Church and State — The King orders several Vessels in the Thames to 
be put under Embargo — A House of Representatives meets in Boston, and 
is admitted as a Branch of the Legislature — The Governor is not re-elected, 
and is made to account for his Expenditure of the public Moneys — His manly 
Conduct on the Occasion — A Code of Laws ordered to be compiled — Also a 
uniform System of Church Discipline. - ' 

Having traced the origin of this republic, and its history to the 
removal of the proprietors and their charter to New England, I 
shall now give a brief sketch of their resolute and systematic de- 
fense of their independence until the year 1686, when the patent 
was revoked. We have seen that they apprehended aggression 
from three sources, the Crown, the Hierarchy, and the Parliament. 
It will be instructive to show with what courage they resisted, or 
what ingenuity they evaded compliance with the authority or 
claims of all. Their conduct in this particular was not the re- 
sult of accident, or of public distractions in England, or of their 
remote and isolated situation, though all contributed to favor their 
object, but it was a predetermined and well-concerted plan. 
They had paid a large sum of money to the Council of New 
Plymouth for their territory, they had fortified their title to the 
soil by purchases from the Indians, and they affected to believe 
that if the fortuitous circumstance of prior discovery had conveyed 
any right to the Crown, the king had formally surrendered it by 
the charter, in consideration of the conditions contained in it. 
They regarded it, therefore, as peculiarly their own country, and 
they were unwilling to allow any interference Avhatever from any 
quarter. The form of the grant of incorporation caused at first 
some embarrassment, by its total want of adaptation to the pur- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 43 

poses to which it had been so unexpectedly applied. But as it 
was based on general election, and the governor and assistant 
were chosen by the freemen, all power centred in the people, 
and the moment the government was organized, it naturally, and 
of necessity, became a republic. Whatever authority the general 
court exercised, was delegated by qualified voters, and the officers 
they appointed received their commissions from those whom they 
empowered to issue them. The fundamental principle, therefore, 
of this little commonwealth was originally the same as that which 
now distinguishes and animates the individual States and great 
Federal Republic of the present day — namely, that the people are 
the source of all power. 

At first, little could be done in matters of legislation, when the 
individual wants and general weakness of the whole community 
required the personal and continued exertion of all its members. 
The governor, his deputy, and four assistants, were appointed 
justices of the peace, with the same powers exercised by persons 
holding similar situations in England. A court of civil and 
criminal jurisdiction was also created, consisting of the higher 
officers of the corporation. In the absence of all statute law, the 
Bible was substituted as a model and guide. In organizing the 
judiciary, a difficulty arose as to the nature of the oaths. The 
customary form of acknowledging the royal authority was evi- 
dently inapplicable, for the people, and not the king, was supreme, 
and his name, therefore, was very quickly dispensed with. The 
oath of allegiance required some consideration, not whether it 
should be adopted, for that was not to be thought of, but whether 
it could be so qualified as to consist with their own independence, 
or be made contingent on residence and protection.* Sins of 
omission are so much safer than sins of commission, so much more 
difficult of detection, and so much more capable of explanation 
when discovered, that it was deemed prudent to omit it altogether, 
and to substitute one of fidelity to the local government instead. 
The king's arms were not only liable to the same objections, but 
had no warrant in Scripture ; and a tender conscience supplied a 
better reason for declining to set them up, than the silence of the 
charter, or their own repugnance. The royal colors were no less 
exceptionable. To substitute new ones would be to hoist a flag 

* See an absti-act of laws prepared for Massachusetts, by Mr. Cotton. 



44 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

of independence, which it was far more prudent quietly to maintain 
than openly proclaim, but there was no valid objection why they 
should not be altered in such a manner as to retain their form and 
general appearance, and yet dchtroy their identity. 

Their ministers suggested a mode of mutilation that would 
effectually answer their purpose, and a reason for their conduct 
which rendered it an imperative duty. They told them the 
cross was a relic of Romish superstition, and as such must be 
removed, if they were desirous of securing a blessing on their 
undertakings. The uninitiated militia at first refused to muster 
under this "new-fangled flag," but when its unscriptural charac- 
ter was pointed out to them, they admitted the propriety of the 
alteration, and the cross was accordingly condemned as unlawful. 
Foreign gold and silver coins marked in a similar manner could 
not be so conveniently defaced, and were suffered to pass current 
without objection. They were unobtrusive, and, humanly speak- 
ing, merited toleration by their intrinsic value, but when weighed 
in the balance with political and religious principles, were found 
wanting, and treated as mere dross, unworthy of the consideration 
of a people who had forsaken Mammon, and crossed the Atlantic 
to preserve and perpetuate the true faith. 

Thus we see how carefully they abstained at the very outset, 
from all recognition of the power of the Crown, either directly or 
indirectly. Drinking to the health of each other at table, as it 
was followed by toasts, and long usage had sanctioned the priority 
of the king's name, with the usual benediction of " God bless 
him," it was thought advisable to abolish, as it would, as a mat- 
ter of course, cause a discontinuance of the other practice, which 
might be a snare to those whose intimate associates in England 
thought no harm in usurping his authority, and could see no sin 
in compassing his death. 

They were now a sovereign people, but the exercise of such 
unlimited power was new to them, and this novelty, as yet wholly 
unrestrained by constitutional checks, increased their impatience 
of individual resistance, which is at all times the natural tendency 
of a democracy,* and made them both arbitrary and vindictive 
in their conduct. An English Dissenter of the name of Black- 
stone, whom they found living at Boston, and claiming it by 

* Hubbard's New England, Chap. xxvi. Wonder Working Providence, 39. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 45 

virtue of his discovery and possession, was soon made to feel the 
difierence between republican and royal compulsion ; and on quit- 
ting the community, remarked, in the bitterness of disappointed 
feeling, " that he had left England because he did not like the 
Lord's Bishops, but that he should now leave them, for he could 
not stand the Lord's Brethren." 

The first emigrants who had a community of feeling both on 
political and religious matters, were resolved that their country 
should not merely be independent, but that its government should 
be freed from the interference of any new-comers who entertained 
difierent opinions from themselves. Dissent they knew they could 
deal with, but they knew also, that members of the Church 
of England, if allowed to obtain a footing among them, would, as 
a matter of course, acknowledge the king to be their sovereign, 
keep him informed of their usurpations, and be protected in their 
worship. They therefore at this early date, 18th of May, 1631, 
enacted in " order that the body of the commons might be pre- 
served of good and honest men," that no person should be admit- 
ted to the freedom of the company, but such as were members of 
some of the churches established by law. So effectually did this 
check the introduction of Episcopalians, that during the whole 
continuance of the Charter, not a single congregation was collect- 
ed in all Massachusetts. 

This bold attempt at exclusive sovereignty, is thus lamented by 
Leechford : " None may now be a freeman of that company 
unless he be a Church member among them. None have voice 
in elections of governor, deputy, and assistants, none are to be 
magistrates, officers, or jurymen, grand or petit, but freemen. 
The ministers give their votes in all elections of magistrates. 
Now the most of the persons at New England are not admitted 
of their Church, and therefore are not freemen, and when they 
come to be tried there, be it for life or hmb, name or estate, or 
whatsoever, they must be tried and judged too by those of the 
Church, who are in a sort their adversaries. How equal that 
hath been or may be, some by experience do know, others may 
judge." Another law was passed in the year 1767, having in 
view the same object : " That none should be received to inhabit 
within the jurisdiction, but such as should be allowed by some of 
the magistrates," and it was fully understood, that differing from 
the churches established in the country, was as great a disquahfi- 



40 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

cation as any political opinions. In defense of this order, it is 
advanced that the apostolic rule of rejecting such as brought not 
the true doctrine with them, was as applicable to the common- 
wealth as the Church, and that even the profane were less to be 
dreaded than the able advocates of erroneous tenets.* 

Complaints they could not prevent, nor could the right to 
petition the Crown be openly impugned but by creating a new 
ofiense, that of accusing the brethren ; no one could petition 
without being guilty of this crime. They therefore forbore to 
press a man to trial for memorializing the king in council, but 
they charged him with slandering the brethren, and held him 
liable to fine, imprisonment, or corporal punishment, or all three, 
for this petit treason. The intercourse with Europe was then so 
limited, and the distance so appalling, that public attention in 
England was not attracted for some time to this glaring usurpa- 
tion, Morton, who had the temerity to erect his May-pole again 
on land not within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, was seized 
by the governor soon after his arrival, put into the stocks, and 
transported to his native country, where, we are very gravely 
inlbrmed by Prince, " he was not even rebuked." He was im- 
prudent enough to return after his property had thus been in- 
vaded, and himself imprisoned and exiled, but was soon made 
sensible of his rashness. The governor, affecting to espouse the 
cause of an Indian, who disputed his right to the possession of a 
canoe, arrested him, burned down his establishment, and con- 
fiscated his estate, to pay for the expense of conveying him to 
England. 

In London he was joined by two other victims of their cruelty 
and oppression — Sir Christopher Gardner and Philip Ratchffe, 
who united with him in petitioning the king for redress. The 
former had been sent out by Sir Ferdinando Georges, as his 
agent, for the protection of a large territory he had purchased, 
adjoining that of the colony of Massachusetts. Whatever his 
religion may have been, one thing was certain, he was not a 
Puritan. As a stranger wholly unconnected with the colony, it 
was not a question for their consideration whether he M^as a 
Romanist or a Churchman ; but they assumed the fact that he 
was a Papist, and ordered him to be arrested. Knowing their 
cruelty, and fearing the result, he preferred trusting to the hospi- 
* See Minot, Hist. Mass., vol. I. p. 29. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 47 

taliiy and protection of the savages, and arming himself, fled 
into the wilderness. The Indians, not without some difficulty, 
were bribed to give up to his unrelenting pursuers their confiding 
guest, and seizing an opportunity, when deprived of his sword 
and his gun, by the upsetting of his canoe, they attacked him 
while in the water, and with long poles beat him so severely 
over his hands and arms that he was compelled to relinquish the 
hold of his dagger (which was his only weapon) and surrender 
himself a prisoner. He was first taken to the jail in Plymouth, 
and then removed to that of Boston, from whence he was sent 
to England. In the mean time his papers were seized and ex- 
amined, and such of them as were thought of service in develop- 
ing the plans of his employer, Sir Ferdinando Georges, were 
retained. 

The other complainant was Philip PvatclifTe. He had been a 
servant of Craddock, the first charter governor, and falling ill in 
his employ, on his recovery demanded wages from the agent of 
his master for the time he had been disabled. Disappointed in 
his expectations, he made some disparaging remarks about a 
people whose conduct so little comported with their professions. 
For this ofl^ense he was fined forty pounds, severely whipped, 
shorn of his ears, and banished forthwith out of the jurisdiction. 

On the complaint of these people, an order in council was 
issued for an investigation, but the inquiry was deferred for the 
time, by the artful management of the principal associate, and 
by the secret assistance of some of the council, who were favor- 
able to the cause of Dissenters. The committee of inquiry were 
informed that the company ought not to be punished for the con- 
duct of some of its members ; that if there were any causes of 
complaint, they could only be proved or explained by witnesses from 
the colony, but as they were at that time sending them some in- 
dispensable additional supplies (three Nonconformist ministers =^) 
any suspension of the operations of the company would be at- 
tended with the most disastrous consequences. 

Strange to say, this reasoning prevailed at the time to defeat 
the just claim of the petitioners for redress. The success of this 
deceptive conduct astonished every body, and none more than 
the governor and assistants themselves ; for they were not only 
honorably acquitted, but actually applauded. They were as- 

* John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, and Samuel Stone. 



48 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

sured by the king's government they might go cheerfully on with 
their present undertaking, and, ''if things were carried as uris 
pretended ivhen the charter tvas granted, his majesty would 
maintain the liberties and privileges of the company." Morton 
appealed from the king in council to the public. He published 
at Amsterdam in 1637, a work entitled " New English Canaan," 
in which, with more elegance of composition than was usual in 
those days, he ridiculed the Separatists with a severity that be- 
speaks the extent of the injury he had sustained at their hands. 
He is also said to have furnished Butler with the anecdote he 
has so inimitably told in Hudibras,* of the people of Plymouth 
having appeased the anger of the Indians for a murder of one of 
their people by hanging a bed-ridden innocent pauper instead of 
the real criminal, who, besides being a saint, had an additional 
claim to their clemency from being the only expert cordwainer 
in the place. 

This story, which has been generally considered to have had 
no other foundation than the imagination of the poet, there is 
unhappily some reason to fear was but too true. Hubbard, him- 
self a Puritan minister, living near the scene, and old enough t 

* Hudibras, Part ii. Canto 2. 

" That sinners may supply the place 

Of suffering saints, is a plain case, 

Justice gives sentence many times. 

On one man for another's crimes; 

Our brethren of New England use 

Choice malefactors to excuse, 

And hang the guiltless in their stead, 

Of whom the Churches have less need, 

As lately 't bappened : In a town 

There lived a cobbler, and but one, 

That out of doctrine could cut, use, 

And mend men's lives as well as shoes. 

This precious brother having slain, 

In times of peace, an Indian, 

The mighty Tottipottymoy 

Sent to our Elders an envoy, 

Who called upon the saints to render 

Into his hands, or hang th' offender. 

But they maturely having weighed 

They had no more but him o' th' trade, 

Resolv'd to spare him ; yet, to do 

The Indian, Hogam Mogam, too, 

Impartial justice, in his stead did 

Hang an old weaver that was bed-rid." 
t He was born in 1621. 



THE ENG LIS fl IN AMERICA. 49 

to have traced its authenticity, has not ventured in his history 
of New England, to give it an unquahfied contradiction. The 
inhabitants of Plymouth, he says, tell the story much otherwise. 
But if they were driven by necessity to do justice to content the 
Indians at that time, it is possible it might be executed, not on 
him that most deserved, but on him that can best be spared, or 
who was not like to live long if he had been let alone.* 

It is almost incredible that with this sad experience of their 
persecuting spirit, Morton should have ventured among them 
again ; but his perseverance was equal to their own, and they 
were amazed at beholding him there for the third time. He 
was instantly arrested, and a letter, written by him from London 
to a friend in the colony, intercepted by the governor (in which 
he calls him "King Winthrop," and inveighs against his "Am- 
sterdam and fanatical ordinances") was produced against him. 
He was forthwith convicted of sedition, fined a hundred pounds, 
and banished again from the colony. To console him under his 
afflictions, he was told he had great reason to be thankful for 
the mercy of the court, as nothing but his great age had saved 
him from the whipping-post. t RatclifTe became a lunatic from 
the cruel treatment he received, and Sir Christopher Gardner 
very prudently gave up the contest. 

This severe conduct was applauded by the ministers, by whom 
toleration was preached against as a sin in rulers, that would 
inevitably bring down the judgment of Heaven upon the land. 
" He that is mounted in the saddle," said one of their divines, 
" had need keep the reins straight, unless he intends to be 
thrown down and trodden under foot ; they are the ministers 
of God for the good of mankind, and should not bear the sword 
in vain. "I 

The power of the clergy was irresistible. At the first Court 
of Assistants, an Act was passed for building ;h[Quses for them 
at the public expense, by which they became indissolubly con- 
nected with the State. By the operation of the two laws, I 
have already alluded to, namely, that no man could be qualified 

* Fifth Vol. Mass. Hist. Coll. Second series, p. 77. 

t Hutchinson's History, vol, i. p. 75. 

t Notice was that year taken of an impudent affront one Captain Stone 
offered to Mr. Ludlow, one of the magisti-ates, calling him just-ass, for justice: 
it cost the offender one hundred pounds and banishment. Hist. Col., vol. v. 
Second scries, p. 157. 

c 



50 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

to vote, or be elected to office, who was not a Church mem- 
ber, and that no Church could be formed but by a license 
from a magistrate, the civil and ecclesiastical affairs were more 
intimately combined than in England. The granting or with- 
holding political rights being thus centred in the ministers, 
the leveling propensity of Congregationalism was curbed and 
restrained by this new power, and all were compelled to sub- 
mit and pay court to the very men it was their original in- 
tention to have divested of all authority. Bigotry, intolerance, 
and hypocrisy were infinitely increased and aggravated by this 
extraordinary alliance. The preachers were consulted on all 
affairs of State and legislation, were often present at the pass- 
ing of laws, and lent their powerful aid to have them executed. 

The attention of the king was again called to the colony of 
Massachusetts. He was informed that there was a great stream 
of emigration flowing steadily thither, of persons known to be 
ill-affected to him, his church, and government. An order 
was accordingly issued by the Privy Council to stay several 
ships in the Thames, ready to sail to New England, with 
settlers and provisions, for the exhibition of passenger lists, and 
for the production of the charter. This was the first time its 
removal was discovered or avowed, and the plausible Craddock 
promised to send for it immediately. He informed the council 
that the royal right was well protected by the clause enforcing 
the oaths of allegiance and supremacy (although he knew they 
had not been administered to the emigrants), and entreated 
that they who had so recently and afiectionately addressed the 
Church, as their dear mother, and avowed before God and 
man their attachment to it at parting, should be believed in 
preference to their slanderers, and wound up with a glowing 
description of naval stores that the planters would soon be able 
to send to England. After some little delay they were per- 
mitted to proceed on their voyage, and emigration again revived. 

In the mean while, the inhabitants having proceeded step by 
step to consolidate their power at Boston, in evasion or defiance 
of the charter, now altered their constitution in a manner to 
suit the exigencies of the times, and their own wants, without 
asking permission or seeking authority from the king. In conse- 
quence of some severe regulations made by the magistrates relative 
to trespasses, which were exceedingly unpopular in the rural dis- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 51 

tricts, two uelegates chosen by each town assembled at Boston and 
demanded a sight of the charter, upon the examination of wdiich 
they arrived at the conclusion, that the legislative authority 
rested not with the magistrates, but with the freemen. On. this 
point they asked the opinion of the governor, who told them, 
that when the patent was issued, it was supposed the freemen 
would be so few, that all could conveniently assemble, but now 
they had become too numerous to meet for deliberation. At the 
same time he said, he was of opinion, they did not yet contain 
sufficient materials to constitute a distinct branch of the Legis- 
lature, but proposed that a certain number of delegates should 
be chosen annually to prefer grievances, but not to make laws ; 
though their consent perhaps might be required to all assess- 
ments of money and grants of land. They w^ere not satisfied 
with any such restricted power, and accordingly at a General 
Court, held in the year 1634, twenty-four of the principal in- 
habitants of the colony, presented themselves as the represent- 
atives of the body of freemen, and demanded on behalf of their 
constituents the right to share in all legislative proceedings of 
that body, a claim which, though it had no foundation whatever 
in the charter, w^as supported by analogy to the constitution of 
the mother country, and was too congenial to their own demo- 
cratic views to be refused. The governor and assistants, how- 
ever, were not prepared for what followed. They were aware 
that a House of Commons w^ould naturally diminish much of 
their own weight and influence, but they were astonished to 
find, when their admission was conceded, that their first step, 
before proceeding to business, was to define the power and juris- 
diction of the General Court in its amended form ; and in that 
definition, to appropriate to themselves a full share of executive 
as well as legislative authority. Hitherto, although the govern- 
ment had been elective, the choice of officers had usually fallen 
upon the same persons. Mr. Winthrop had been appointed 
governor every year since the foundation of the commonwealth, 
and most of the assistants had also been re-elected. As judges 
and justices they were the dignitaries of the land. Their dis- 
cretionary power, in the absence of a regular code of laws, was 
very great. Severe penalties were enacted for disobeying them, 
and still heavier punishments awarded for discourteous or con- 
tumelious behavior toward them. Democracy, however, is no 



52 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

respecter of persons. Where all authority emanates from the 
mass, all must finally bow to that source of power. The natural 
order of society is soon reversed : officials first become courtiers to 
the people, and then are degraded to a menial dependence on 
their masters. This universal law of politics was now made 
palpable to the founders of the republic. 

One of the first acts of the representatives was to impose a fine 
on the Court of Assistants for having presumed, during the pre- 
ceding year, in the exercise of their discretion, not to act in con- 
formity to an order of the G'eneral Court. The governor, a 
most able, zealous, liberal and laborious officer, who had dis- 
charged all the gubernatorial duties gratuitously for several years, 
was quietly passed over without any reason whatever that can be 
discovered, beyond the vile and contemptible propensity of demo- 
crats to humble and degrade to their own vulgar level all that 
are distinguished among them for character or talent. Not con- 
tent with this unprovoked and unmerited insult, he was coarsely 
interrogated as to the receipts and disbursement of the public 
money during his administration, as if he had been a defaulter, 
and enriched himself with the spoils, instead of exhausting his 
means, and impoverishing his family, by private charities and 
public benefactions, as was well known to be the case. At the 
termination of this ungrateful and humiliating proceeding, he 
handed in the following dignified and temperate protest : 

" In all these things which I offer, I refer myself to the wisdom 
and justice of the court, with this protestation, that it repenteth 
me not of my cost or labor bestowed on this commonwealth, but 
do heartily bless the Lord our God that He hath pleased to 
honor me so far as to call for any thing He hath bestowed upon 
me for the service of His Church and people here : the prosperity 
whereof and His gracious acceptance, shall be an abundant 
recompense to me. I conclude with this one request (which in 
justice may not be denied me), that as it stands upon record, that 
upon the discharge of my office I was called to account, so this 
ray declaration may be recorded also, lest hereafter, when I shall 
be forgotten, some blemish may lie upon my posterity, when 
there shall be nothing to clear it. 

"John Winthrop. 

" September 4th, 1C34." 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 53 

It is a painful, but instructive page of history. The colony 
was founded by Mr. Winthrop, in a spirit of defection to his 
Sovereign and his Church. The first act of the Legislature, a 
child of his own creation, was^ a rejection of himself as their 
governor, the imposition of a fine and censure upon his Court of 
Assistants, and an accusation against both, having as little founda- 
tion in truth as those he had himself so lightly adopted, and so 
little examined, against Jiis king and his primate. 

The establishment of a representative body was a bold exercise 
of independence, but it completed and consolidated the power of 
the state, which being based altogether on the elective system, 
was purely republican. This innovation created an inquiry into 
the nature of the liberty and privileges of the people, which 
threatened to convulse the colony by the numerous abstract 
questions to which it gave rise. Among others was a dispute as 
to the veto of the Assistants, both as regarded its existence and 
its limits. A number of persons having memorialized the court 
for leave to remove out of the jurisdiction, the Assistants refused 
their assent, assigning, among other reasons, one that in modern 
times M'-ould expose them to much sectarian abuse. " The re- 
moval of a candlestick^ they said, "is a great judgment, which 
ought to be avoided." By far the greater part of the delegates 
were for granting the prayer of the petitioners, and numerically 
they formed a majority of the whole court. The dispute on this 
contested point was very warm, and the session was adjourned. 
"What they refused to grant to the assumptions of the magistrates, 
they yielded to the fervid eloquence of Mr. Cotton, who preached 
before them, when they reassembled ; " for it pleased the Lord so 
to assist him, and to bless His own ordinances that the afiairs of 
the court \vent on cheerfully." 

At this time was first introduced the custom, now so prevalent 
in America and the British provinces, of paying the members of 
the Legislature. It was ordered that the charge of dieting the 
assistants and delegates during the General Court be paid out of 
the public treasury. About the same period the vote by ballot 
for the delegates was established. The aid of the minister, and 
some of the ablest men in the province was now reijuested, to 
compile a uniform order of discipline for all the churches in the 
colony. 



CHAPTER V. 

A Commission issues to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and eleven other Persons, 
for governing the Colonies, &c. — Abbot and Laud, their Conduct contrasted — 
Severe Trials of the Church — Its Character and Conduct — Colonists assume the 
Right of making Treaties — Free-Trade with the Narragansetts— Otter of 
hereditary Rank made by Lord Say and Sele — Reasons for declining it — 
Petition of the People debarred of civil Rights for Nonconformity — They are 
summoned to appear before the Governor and Assistants, and denounced by 
the Ministers — Heavily fined and bound over to keep the Peace— Their private 
Papers searched, and a Memorial found addressed to the Earl of Warwick — 
Its Contents — The People extend their Jurisdiction to Wethersfield, situated 
beyond the Limits of Massachusetts — ^Justification of Encroachment — Gorton's 
Settlement broken up, and his Followers severely punished — The Grand 
Council of Plymouth surrenders its Charter on the Ground of the Colonists 
claiming Independence — A quo warranto ordered to be issued for the Rev- 
ocation of the Charter — Sir Ferdinando Georges nominated Governor-General 
— The Ministers convened to advise — They recommend Resistance — Dis- 
senters from the Churches of Massachusetts settle at Connecticut, Rhode 
Island, and other Places — War with the Pequods — The Army under a Cove- 
nant of Works — Extermination of the Indian Tribe — Troubles in England — 
The Colony is left umnolested. 

In England great astonishment was expressed at this usurpa- 
tion, which naturally drew attention also to the artful manner 
Episcopalians were excluded, if not from the country, at least 
from all participation in its government. A royal commission, 
therefore, was granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
eleven other persons, for the management of colonial affairs, con- 
ferring or revoking patents, appointing public officers, and other 
more extensive powers. The recital reasserts, in distinct terms, 
that the object of the king, in granting the charter, " was not 
merely to enlarge the territories of our empire, but more especially 
to 2^ropagate the Gosj)el of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

The contumacy and intractabihty of the Puritans at home 
increased the alarm that was felt at the extension of the sect in 
America. Every means had been tried and exhausted for recon- 
ciling or conciliating them, but in vain. Concessions led to 
further demands, kindness only served to infuse a belief of weak- 
ness ; and, in the exasperated state of public feeling, nothing 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 55 

appeared to be left but compulsion. The indulgence of Abbot 
rather emboldened their opposition, as they afiected to see in his 
mildness or negligence a similarity of opinions with their own. 
Laud, warned by the failure of his predecessor, was more vigilant 
and more rigid, and endeavored to compel these refractory Non- 
conformists to obedience by a strict enforcement of the law, in 
the execution of which he showed himself as zealous, active, and 
almost as severe as the Puritans themselves. These people ex- 
hibited the most melancholy specimen of the arrogance, obstinacy, 
and inconsistency of the human mind to be found in any age or 
country. At the very time that they were depriving every per- 
son in Massachusetts of all civil rights, who was not in full 
communion with them, or imprisoning, fining, or banishing who- 
ever dared to maintain doctrines at variance with their own, 
they denounced as a bigot and a demon the archbishop, who, 
unfortunately, adopted the same error of compulsory conversion 
as themselves. 

It was not without great alarm, therefore, they were informed 
that a quo ivarranto had been issued against them, and that the 
governor was ordered by the Board forthwith to send back to 
England the charter which had been so surreptitiously removed. 
They had now a man to deal with who knew their principles too 
well to be duped by professions, whose duty it was to protect his 
own Church, and to see that no part of his majesty's dominions 
was closed against her members, and who had penetrated the 
designs of their co-religionists to subvert the monarchy. From 
his well-known integrity and piety they knew that they might 
look for justice ; but they saw nothing in the contumely and in- 
sults they had heaped upon him to lead them to hope that he 
would make another fruitless attempt to try the efiect of in- 
dulgence. 

The conduct of these two prelates. Abbot and Laud, has been 
variously viewed, both by contemporary authors and historians 
of the present day, according to the uncertain standard of their 
own morals and politics. By some the moderation or connivance 
of the first has been extolled as an example of Christian virtue, 
worthy of all praise ; while a rigid adherence to ecclesiastical 
discipline, and a strict observance of the law of the land, has 
earned for the other a character for cruelty and tyranny. But 
the agitated state of the times, the fury of party, the ferocity and 



56 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

disloyalty of schismatics, and the intrigues of an unscrupulous 
Court, if they do not afford a justification for the negligence of 
the one, or the rigor of the other, will warrant us in putting a 
charitable construction on the conduct of both. Where the shel- 
ter of non-interference merely aggravated the evil, it was natural 
to try the only other alternative, severity ; and subsequent events 
have now clearly disclosed to us that the middle course, in which 
justice is tempered with mercy, so difficult at all times to be 
found, and especially in civil commotions, would have been 
equally unavailing. It is probable, however, that if Abbot had 
been more firm. Laud would have been less severe ; and it is 
certain that a proper discharge of his duty, without periling his 
own life, Avould have saved that of his martyred successor. 

No religious establishment has had so much to contend against 
as the Anglican Church. For centuries before the Reformation 
she had to endure the assaults of Rome, and ever since the 
furious attacks of fanatics ; while lately she has had to with- 
stand them both, under the serious disadvantage of being crippled 
by the State, in the freedom of her actions. Formerly, the 
government, to suit their own political views, found it necessary 
to fill the bench of Bishops with persons holding high prerogative 
opinions. In more recent times the selection for a similar pur- 
pose has been too often made from latitudinarians, while during 
the whole period of time, she has had within her own pale a 
numerous party who receive her pay, and eat her bread, but 
refuse to do her bidding, or teach her doctrines. Deprived of 
her convocation, she has been powerless to preserve uniformity, 
defend herself, or enforce her discipline, and, above all, to exert 
her whole voice in demanding her ancient right of electing her 
own prelates. Hence the soundness of one diocese contrasts 
strangely with the license and disorder of another, and the 
anomalous appeals in matters of belief to a lay court, evince less 
unity than Rome, and less independence than Dissent. 

During all these afflictions her conduct has been worthy of 
herself. Her firmness in resisting encroachments, and patience 
under persecutions, moderation in prosperity, devotion to the 
cause of truth and learning, her zeal and munificence in propa- 
gating the Gospel to the furthermost parts of the earth, are well 
attested by the fruit she has borne. Her sterling worth is 
stamped on her children, and an Englishman may well be proud 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 57 

of the parent that instructed his tender years, and implanted in 
his mind all those virtues that invigorate, and those graces that 
adorn his character. While the Puritan preachers of Massa- 
chusetts were occupied in compiling a body of laws, and a code 
of divinity, the Parhament of the colony entered at once upon 
the exercise of unrestricted sovereign' power, and authorized or 
sanctioned the assumption by the executive of the right to make 
war, or declare treaties of peace, with the surrounding Indian 
nations. The Narragansetts, a powerful and numerous tribe, 
were among the first to enter into offensive and defensive alliance 
with them. Some of the stipulations of this compact have since 
been adopted by the diplomatists of modern times,* and the sur- 
render of fugitives from justice, and unrestrained free-trade, 
though apparently equally beneficial to both from their reciprocal 
character, concealed, under specious terms, the selfishness that 
dictated them ; for the grave ofiered to the savage an asylum 
infinitely preferable to the abodes of the white man, and free- 
trade was only beneficial to those who desired the advantage of 
tempting the cupidity, or overreaching the simplicity of their 
customers, by giving them in exchange for their furs, superfluities, 
of the value or use of which they were equally ignorant. A few 
years afterward an army was raised to proceed against these 
same allies, who had subsequently become refractory and turbu- 
lent ; but so imposing a force awed them into submission, and a 
renewal of commercial intercourse. 

In this democratic body the companies usually chose their own 
officers, and the executive contented itself with appointing a 
commander-in-chief to direct its operations. The commonwealth 
then, as at the present day, was substituted for the royal author- 
ity ; and the revolution of 1783, instead of destroying old institu- 

* The following is the treaty alluded to : 

1. A firm and perpetual peace betwixt them and the English. 

2. Neither party to make peace with the Pequods without the consent of the 
other. 

3. That Narragansetts should not harbor any Pequods. 

4. That they should put to death, or deliver up any murderers of the English. 

5. That they should return fugitive servants. 

6. The English to give them notice when to go out against the Pequods, and 
the Nan-agansetts to furnish guides. 

7. Free-trade to be carried on between the parties. 

8. None of the Nan-agansetts to come near the English plantations during the 
war with the Pequods, without some Englishman or Indian known to the En- 
glish. — Hutch., vol. i. p. 591. 

C* 



58 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

tions, was conservative in its character, and merely restored the 
ancient order of things. The spirit of independence and equality 
was as deeply rooted then as now in Massachusetts, and an 
offer of hereditary rank, when tendered to the principal inhabit- 
ants by Lord Say and Sele, if they would join him in colonizing 
the Bahamas, was peremptorily and decidedly refused. Hered- 
itary authority, they saic|, had no warrant in Scripture, and any 
civil power whatever, not basefd on church membership, was 
equally repugnant to the will of God. They assured his lordship 
that it was their conscientious conviction, that it was ** a divine 
ordinance (and moral) that none should be appointed and chosen 
by the people of God, magistrates over them, but men fearing 
God,* chosen out of their brethrehi,t Saints.J That the Apostle 
maketh it a shame to the Church, if it be not able to afford wise 
men from out of themselves, Avhich shall be able to judge all 
civil matters between their brethren. § And Solomon maketh it 
the joy of a commonwealth when the righteous are in authority, 
and the calamity thereof when the wicked bear rule. \\ 

It was not to be supposed, however, that this exclusive claim 
of the Church, to confine all affairs of trust and emolument to its 
own members, would be submitted to without a struggle, by 
those who were debarred of the right of becoming freemen under 
the terms of the charter. The object of it was well known to 
have been to discourage Episcopalians from settling in the State, 
and to preserve the ascendency of the Puritans; but as it did 
not answer the purpose as fully or as promptly as was expected, 
another Act was passed of a more stringent nature. A penalty 
was laid upon all persons who should entertain in their houses a 
stranger who came with an intent to reside in the colony, or 
should allow him the use of any habitation, or lot of land, for a 
longer period than three weeks, without permission from the 
magistrates. The fine on individuals was twenty pounds, and a 
like sum for every month that the offense was persisted in. One 
hundred pounds was also imposed upon any town, for either 
giving or selling land to any such unlicensed person. 

Under the pretense of guarding their chartered rights, and 
preserving the purity of their religion and morals, they thus man- 
aged to introduce laws that effectually converted those who pro- 

* Exodus xviii. 21. t Deut. xvii. 1.5. j: 1 Cor. vi. 1. 

$ 1 Cor. vi. 1. II Prov. xxix. 2. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 59 

fessed any other creed than their own into aliens, and rendered 
them liable to all the disabihties and all the inconvenience of 
being subjects of a foreign realm. Obstinacy is not confined to 
any class or sect, but is a peculiarity of our national character ; 
and if the Puritans had the courage to claim the country as their 
own, and disregard or deny the supremacy of the parent state, 
there were not wanting those who questioned their right, and 
were determined, at all hazards, to demand an equal share of the 
privileges and advantages conferred upon all by the patent. 
Among these w^ere several persons of character and property, 
who, as a preliminary step, petitioned the General Court, or local 
assembly. In their memorial, which w^as couched in firm but 
respectful language, they complained : 1st. That the funda- 
mental laws of England were not owned by the colony, as the 
basis of their government, according to the charter. 2d. The 
denial of those civil privileges which the freemen of the jurisdic- 
tion enjoyed, to such as were not members of churches, and did 
not take an oath of fidelity, devised by the local authority, al- 
though they were free-born Englishmen of sober lives, conversa- 
tion, &:c. 3d. That they were debarred from Christian privi- 
leges, viz., the Lord's Supper for themselves, and baptism for 
their children, unless they were members of some, of the partic- 
ular churches in the country, though otherwise sober, righteous, 
and godly, and eminent for knowledge, not scandalous in life and 
conversation, and members of churches in England. 

They prayed that civil liberty and freedom might forthwith be 
granted the inhabitants, and that all members of the Church of 
England or Scotland, not scandalous, might be admitted to the 
privileges of the churches of New England, or, if these civil and 
religious liberties were refused, that they might be freed from the 
heavy taxes imposed upon them, and from the impresses made of 
them, their children, or servants in the wars. 

They further stated that if they failed of redress, they should 
be under the necessity of making application to Parliament, who 
they hoped would take their sad condition into consideration, pro- 
vide able ministers for them, New England having none such to 
spare, or else transport them to some other place, their estates 
being wasted, where they may live like Christians. 

Such a bold and decisive measure at once awakened the fears 
of the governor, and aroused the anger of the clergy. The former 



60 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

summoned them to appear and ansvv^er for this contumacious con- 
duct, at the bar of the court ; the latter, with their usual zeal 
and intolerance, invoked the judgment of God upon the malig- 
nants, who dared to impugn the saints, and threatened to slan- 
der the elect by appealing to an English tribunal, the mem- 
bers of which were under a covenant of works. The inveteracy 
of both justified the proceedings of the petitioners, and confirmed 
them in the course they had resolved to pursue. The thunders 
of the pulpit and the threats of the executive, though not equally 
formidable, were both sufficient to terrify men of ordinary nerves. 
The denunciations of the ministers were equivalent to excommu- 
nication among a people who believed that salvation was not to 
be obtained beyond the pale of Puritanism ; and the frowns of a 
court that held irresponsible power over life and property, and 
believed it was doing God service in freely exercising it, were not 
to be encountered without terror. Instead of receiving redress, 
they were required to answer for their own conduct. They 
humbly submitted that they had preferred no charges, but had 
merely solicited a change, and requested a reform. The right to 
petition was freely conceded, with a mildness and meekness that 
did honor to their Christian humility ; but they were informed 
with great sternness that they had exceeded the bounds of that 
invaluable privilege, and endangered the liberty of the people by 
a licentious use of a constitutional right, and were accordingly 
heavily fined in proportion to their ability. They then claimed 
an appeal to the Commissioners for plantations, but they were 
told that was an aggravation of their offense, inasmuch as it had 
a tendency to lower the character of the court among the people, 
and were therefore ordered to find securities for their future good 
behavior. 

To submit to authority is the duty of all good subjects ; but to 
obey without a murmur, when it is abused, is more than can be 
expected from the infirmity of human nature. In the irritation 
of the moment, some of the petitioners announced their intention 
of proceeding to England, to lay their complaint before the Im- 
perial Government. This fresh ofiense called for further coercive 
measures, and a search-warrant was issued to seize and examine 
their private papers. A memorial was found addressed to the 
Earl of Warwick and the other members of the board, signed by 
twenty-three non-freemen for themselves and many thousand 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 61 

more,* in Avliicli they stated, that from the pulpit they had been 
reproached, and branded with the names of destroyers of churches 
and commonwealths, called Hamans, Judases, sons of Korah, 
&c., and the Lord entreated to confound them, and the people 
and magistrates stirred up against them, by those who were too 
forward to step out of their callings ; in consequence of which 
some of them had even been committed for refusing to give bonds 
for two hundred pounds, to abide by the sentence of the court ; 
when all their crime was to petition, and they had publicly been 
treated as malefactors, &c. They then proceed to pray : 

1. For settled churches in Massachusetts according to the 
Reformation of England. 

2. That the laws of England may be established. 

3. That all English freeholders may enjoy such privileges as 
in England, and the other plantations. 

4. That a general governor, or some commissioners may be 
appointed, &c. 

5. That the oath of allegiance may be taken by all, and other 
covenants which the Parliament shall think most convenient. 

To this petition were appended certain queries : 

Whether the patent of Massachusetts was confirmed by Par- 
liament, and whether it was not necessary it should be ? 

Whether the court may forfeit their charter, &c. ? 

Whether, if treason be uttered in the pulpit, or in the court 
and not questioned, the court do not consent, &c. ? 

Whether it be not high-treason, as well in New England as 
in Ireland, to endeavor to subvert* the fundamental laws of En- 
gland, to take away the liberties of the English nation, to say 
that Massachusetts is a free state, &c. ? 

Whether the oath of allegiance and the covenant be not bind- 
ing there ? 

Whether all Enghsh inhabitants having lands, are not free- 
men ? 

Whether the court hath power to confine to prison, banish, 
impose censures, impress persons and goods for an offensive 
war, &:c. ? 

Whether the ministers may pubHcly vilify the English nation, 
laws, &c. ; and not be questioned ? 

* It is probable that the words "many tbousaud more," are about as accurate 
as numbers, when spoken of in petitions, usually ai-e. 



62 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

Whether the petitioners ought to be hindered settling in a 
church way, according to the churches in England, &c. ? 

Good behavior is a term of extensive signification, and at that 
period petitioning ParHament, whose jurisdiction was not admit- 
ted, was evidently a violation of the duty of an obedient subject. 
The fine which had already been exacted from them, and the 
dread of forfeiting the bonds into which they had entered, de- 
terred them from further prosecuting their appeal until a more 
favorable opportunity, Pwcsistance to constituted authority, when 
efiectually defeated, necessarily strengthens the government it 
was designed to overthrow ; and one successful exercise of ar- 
bitrary power naturally leads to another. Having repeatedly 
stifled remonstrance within, they could not endure open defiance 
without their borders. Several of the inhabitants having re- 
moved to Wethersfield, a place beyond the limits of Massachu- 
setts, it was deemed prudent to assume jurisdiction, in order to 
avoid the contamination of bad neighbors. At first some scru- 
ples were entertained as to the legality of thus appropriating ter- 
ritory to themselves, to which they admitted they had no right, 
but a little reflection soon enabled them to overcome this diffi- 
culty. It was thought advisable, if any objection should here- 
after be made by England to this presumptuous assumption of 
power, to apply to her her own reasoning on the subject of fealty, 
by which they would have the advantage of both sides of the ar- 
gument. When they left the mother country, they maintained 
that allegiance was local and not general, obedience and protec- 
tion being reciprocal ; while on the other hand, the crown law- 
yers held that a man never could divest himself of this obliga- 
tion, which accompanied him to the most remote parts of the 
earth. Now protesting in their own case against this doctrine 
of the English jurists, still it was fair, they said, to apply it to 
those who believed it, for no one can be injured by submitting to 
a law which he attempts to force on others, and which he asserts 
to be obligatory on all. Assuming, therefore, that the emigrants 
who had been inhabitants of the colony, and had taken the 
oath of fidehty to the commonwealth, were still bound by it, 
though not residing within its fimits, it was but right and 
proper, that the State should on its part extend to them its 
protection and support. They accordingly very quietly and 
complacently assumed jurisdiction over the country, and issued 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 63 

the necessary commissions for its government and internal man- 
agement. 

The Puritans, who were subtle casuists, having authorized a 
forcible entry into land that did not belong to them, and thus 
enlarged their limits, soon found arguments for a similar exten- 
sion, by seizing upon the possession of others on the ground that 
they were intruders on the heritage of the Lord. A number of 
persons, among whom was an obnoxious schismatic called Gorton, 
holding different religious opinions from themselves, and disliking 
the tyrannical form of government at Massachusetts, purchased 
lands from the Indians, beyond the boundaries of the colony, and 
commenced a settlement, where they hoped to enjoy unrestricted 
liberty of conscience. Possessing and enjoying, though usually 
coupled together, are by no means synonymous terms. Fanaticism 
is seldom enjoyed, but amidst opposition or in the face of danger. 
When unnoticed, it becomes torpid, and expires for want of suf- 
ficient excitement to preserve vitality. It is generally a compound 
of ignorance and vanity ; one fades from view in the light of 
knowledge, and neglect is a sure and certain specific for the other. 

The Government were not willing to await the natural death 
of this ephemeral heresy. It was deemed necessary to crush it 
ill its inlancy. The limits of the State to which they had ad- 
hered with such pertinacity when threatened v/ith encroachment, 
proved no protection to those who lived beyond them. A party 
was sent against the emigrants, w^ho carried them all prisoners 
to Boston, drove off their cattle, which they sold to pay the ex- 
pense of the expedition, and effectually destroyed the settlement. 
When brought before the court, it was in vain the captives 
pleaded to its jurisdiction, and maintained that not being in- 
habitants of Massachusetts, they were not amenable to its au- 
thority. The justices informed them that they had violated the 
Divine law, though they did not condescend to produce the com- 
mission that authorized them to punish its infraction ; they con- 
tented themselves with ordering them to plead instanter to the 
following extraordinary accusation : " Upon much examination, 
and serious consideration of your writings, we do charge you to be 
a blasphemous enemy of the true religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and His holy ordinances, also of civil authority among the people 
of God, and particularly in this jurisdiction." 

They were all found guilty, and sentenced lo be dispersed in 



64 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

the several towns, and to be well ironed and set to work. It 
was further ordered, if any of them attempted to escape, or re- 
peated, either verbally or in writing, their heretical doctrines, or 
reproached the Church or the Civil Government, upon proof 
thereof they were to suffer death. Now, that intercourse between 
the mother country and the colony had become so frequent (two 
hundred and ninety-eight ships having arrived since the first 
settlement), these violent proceedings could not long remain con- 
cealed. Vigorous measures were immediately adopted for reducing 
the people to subjection, and preventing disorderly emigration. 
Orders were issued to the Wardens of the cinque-ports, not to 
allow any subsidy men to embark for the plantations without 
license, nor any persons under that degree, without proper evi- 
dence that they had taken the oaths of supremacy and allegiance. 
The Grand Council of Plymouth, from whom Massachusetts 
had derived its title, w^as called upon to explain its conduct rela- 
tive to the transfer of territory it had made to the colony of 
Massachusetts. This association, consisting of the first nobility 
and gentry in England, immediately resigned its Charter, declar- 
ing, " that the Puritan patentees having surreptitiously obtained 
from the Crown a confirmation of their grant of the soil, had not 
only excluded them from the public government of the corpora- 
tion, but had made themselves a free people, and for such held 
themselves at present, framing new conceits of religion, and new 
form of ecclesiastical and temporal government, punishing divers 
that would not approve thereof, some by whipping, and others by 
burning their houses, and some by banishment, under other pre- 
tenses indeed, yet for no other cause, save only to make themselves 
absolute masters of the country, and uncontrollable in their new 
laws." * Such were the reasons which reduced the Council of 
Plymouth to the necessity of requesting '' their sovereign" to take 
the whole business into his own hands. An order also issued to 
the Attorney-General to bring a quo warranto against the cor- 

* Such a serious charge has great names to sustahi it: 



Lord Georges, President. 

Captain Mason, Vice President. 

Marquis of Haiiiilton. 

Earl of Arundel and Surrey. 

Earl of Southampton. 

Earl of Lindsey. 

Earl of Carlisle. 

Earl of Stirling. 



Lord Maltravers. 
Lord Alexander. 
Sir Ferdinand Geors 
Sir Kenelm Digby. 
Sir Robert Mansel. 
Sir Henry Spelman 
Sir James Baggs. 
Mr. Montague. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 65 

poration of Massachusetts. An enlarged plan for a general 
government of New England was devised, and as a preliminary 
step, Sir Ferdinando Georges was nominated to the supreme 
command. 

As soon as the colonists were apprised of this measure, they 
prepared to counteract it. The ministers, whom no test could 
bind, and who were ever foremost in opposing the king's au- 
thority, were convened by the magistrates, and appealed to for 
advice, under the endearing appellation of the Fathers of the 
Country. They accordingly assembled at Boston from all the 
various townships, and the question was formally submitted to 
them : " What is to be done if a Governor-General be sent over 1" 
They unanimously advised that the colony ought not to accept 
him, but to defend its lawful possession if able, otherwise to avoid 
or protract. To have insured obedience, would have required an 
army, and the king now needed all the forces he could muster to 
defend himself. The plan therefore failed for want of means. 

During all this time, Massachusetts was herself convulsed with 
religious differences, which, like those in England, led to the 
planting of new colonies. 

Connecticut, Providence, New Haven, and other settlements, 
were founded by those who complained of persecution for con- 
science sake. It is not my intention to give any account of these 
controversies, nor of the principal actors in them, as they do not 
legitimately fall within the scope of this work ; but their migra- 
tions are remarkable, as emanations from the parent colony, the 
people of which, though difiering in matters of faith from the 
refugees, agreed with them in political opinions. Following the 
example of Massachusetts, they all formed constituencies for 
themselves, based on mutual compact, and the broad foundation 
of popular rights. Each established a little separate republic. 
Thus their dissensions, no less than their consort, tended to spread 
their democratic principles, which were so soon to be adopted by 
the whole population of the Continent. Extending their settle- 
ments, however, temporally exposed them to new danger, by 
bringing them in contact with distant and hostile tribes of 
Indians, which compelled them to unite in a general confedera- 
tion, and attack the enemies in their own country. Contests 
with the savages, like their intestine disputes on points of doctrine, 
I must also pass over, for the same reason. But it is important 



66 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

to note, that in the Pequod campaign, they exercised one of the 
highest acts of sovereign power, that of making war, as they had 
previously done by entering into a treaty of alliance and com- 
merce with another people. 

The expedition commenced with senseless bigotry, and termin- 
ated witli unrelenting cruelty. When the troops were mustered, 
a most alarming discovery was made, that a great many, both of 
the officers and men, were under a covenant of works, and it w^as 
necessary to delay operations until the army could be purified 
from the pollution arising from such unsanctiiied and desperately 
wickisd heretics. The promise which was given them of old in 
Scripture, and especially referred to by the Puritans of New 
England, " Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine 
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses- 
sion," could not, they said, be deemed to include men so lost in 
error as these Antinomians and Familists. After much fasting 
and prayer, and some expukions and admonitions, the preachers 
pronounced them in a fit state to proceed, and foretold the result 
wdth that confidence with which victory may always be predicted, 
when the bow and the arrow alone are opposed to fire-arms. 
They w^ere accompanied by a minister who was desirous of pre- 
serving that purity of doctrine he had so much difficulty of 
infusing into them, and of " rejoicing his heart," as he said, " by 
seeing those that dwell in the wilderness bov/ before him, and his 
enemies lick the dust." 

It is a great relief to be spared the task of recording the details 
of this dreadful massacre of a whole tribe, that mustered a thou- 
sand warriors, equal to the best and bravest of the whole Ameri- 
can continent. Bancroft, who seems proud of the prowess of the 
Puritans, thus sums up this " glorious exploit." After describing 
in glowing colors the defeat of the main body, he says : " The 
rest were pursued into their hiding-places.* Every wigwam was 

* In " Thatcher's History of the Town of New Plymouth," p. 65, is an account 
of a barbarous deed, committed by Captain Standish, under the sanction of the 
Governor. He and four others fell on an equal number of Indians, whom he had 
decoyed into a house, and slew them all. Cutting off the head of the chief, and 
carrying it back in ti'iumph, he set it up on a pole in the town as a terror to this 
people, whom they were pleased to call savages. When their worthy pastor, 
whom they had left at Leyden, heard of it, he wrote to the Church, "that he 
doubted whether there was not wanting that tenderness of the life of man, 
made after G-od"s image, that was meet,"' adding, "it would have been happy 
if they had converted some before they had killed any." 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 67 

burned, every settlement was broken up, every corn-field laid 
waste ; there remained not a sarrup, nor squaw, nor child, nor 
warrior of the Pequod name. A nation had disappeared from 
the family of men." 

The alarm of the colonists, arising from the interference of the 
king and his governor-general, and their fears relative to their 
charter, soon gave place to hopes that Royalty and Episcopacy 
would ere long cease to exist in England. The unfortunate mon- 
arch had now to struggle for his life and his throne, and Mas- 
sachusetts was suffered to enjoy her independence undisturbed, 
and lay the foundation of those institutions which in time to 
come were to support, and maintain the great American republic. 
The cost of New England colonization so far, has been estimated 
at two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, a great sum for those 
times, but probably short of the truth. Already there existed, 
east of the Hudson, twelve independent democratic communities, 
comprising not less than fifty towns, or distinct settlements ; but 
a consolidation took place soon after, by which the inconvenience 
resulting from so many separate jurisdictions was remedied by 
reducing them to six. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Colony exercises Soverei.s^ity in external Affairs — Confederates with Con- 
necticut, New Haven, and Plymouth — Terms of Confederation — Effects of it 
in America — Commissioners of the United Colonies receive a Diplomatic 
Agent fi-om Acadie, and the Governor-General of Canada sends an Envoy to 
the Swedish Governor on the Delaware, and negotiates with the Dutch on 
the Hudson — Massachusetts coins Money — State of the Colony— Parliament 
exempts New England from Taxes — The People resolve not to ask Favors of 
Parliament — Decline to send Delegates to the Assembly of Ministers at 
Westminister — Sir Harry Vane advocates their Cause — Parliament exempts 
them from certain Duties — Prerogative Claims — Sole Control of Colonies — 
Sketch of its Origin — Idea of Navigation Laws, suggested by James I.— 
General Court calls in the Aid of the Eldei*s, and deliberates on the Subject of 
Parliamentary Control, and refuses to submit — They remonstrate with the 
House of Commons, and obtain a favorable Answer. 

We have now arrived at a period in the history of this Httle 
commonweallh in which we may clearly trace the origin of the 
federal union of the several States of the great republic. We 
have shown that the people maintained that their institutions 
were established by the free consent, and for the benefit of all ; 
that the country was their own, and that no man had a right to 
enter it without their permission ; that they had full and ample 
power of governing, by men chosen from among themselves, 
according to such laws as they should see fit to enact, provided 
that they were not repugnant to those of England ; that they 
held the keys of the territory ; were entitled to prescribe terms of 
naturalization to all noviciates ; and further that they were only 
subject to the king according to the charter, and not otherwise. 
In short, they insisted that to all intents and purposes they were 
independent, except as restrained by the terms of their compact. 
This claim was illustrated by their acts ; hitherto they had 
sustained it by the manner they managed their internal aflairs. 
In one or two instances, as we have seen, they showed a disposi- 
tion to exert external sovereignty also. This intention was now 
boldly avowed and openly acted upon ; Ma«sachusetts this year 
(19th May, 1643) entered into "a firm and perpetual league," 
offensivs and defensive, with the provinces of Plymouth, Con- 
necticut, and New Haven, under the designation of the United 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 69 

Colonies of New England. All these were rigidly Puritanical. 
Rhode Island was rejected under the plausible pretext of being 
within the jurisdiction of Plymouth, but in reality because she 
indulged the inhabitants with more toleration in religious opinions 
than Massachusetts approved. 

The substance of the agreement is as follows :* 

" Each colony to retain a distinct and separate jurisdiction, no 
two to join in one jurisdiction without the consent of the whole, 
and no other to be received into the confederacy without the like 
consent. 

" Upon notice from three magistrates of any colony of an inva- 
sion, the rest shall immediately send aid, Massachusetts one 
hundred, and each of the rest forty-five men ; and if a greater 
number be necessary, the Commissioners to meet and determine 
upon it. Two delegates from each Government, being Church 
members, to meet annually the first Monday in September, the 
first meeting to be held at Boston, then at Hartford, New 
Haven, and P]ymouth, and so yearly, m that order, saving that 
two silrtings successively be held at Boston. All matters wherein 
six shall agree to be binding upon the whole ; but if the majority 
be under that number, the matter in question to be referred to 
the General Court, and not to be obligatory unless the whole 
agree to it. 

" A President for preserving order to be chosen by the Com- 
missioners annually out of their number. 

" The Commissioners shall have power to establish laws or 
rules of a civil nature, and of general concern for the conduct of 
the inhabitants, viz., relating to their behavior toward the In- 
dians, to fugitives from one colony to another, and the like. 

" No colony to engage in war, except upon a sudden exigency, 
and in that case to be avoided as much as possible, without the 
consent of the whole. 

"If a meeting be summoned upon any extraordinary occasion, 
and the whole number of Commissioners do not assemble, any 
four who shall meet may determine upon a war, when the case 
will not admit of a delay, and send for the proportion of men 
agreed upon out of each jurisdiction, but not less than six shall 
determine the justice of the war, or have power to settle bills of 
exchange, or make levies for the same. 

* See Hutcliiusou, vol. i. p. 124. 



70 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

" If a colony break an article of the agreement, or any way in- 
jure another, the matter shall be considered and determined by 
the Commissioners of the other provinces." 

The unity of action obtained by this treaty, the respect the 
Court of Commissioners maintained and enforced, not only within 
their own jurisdiction, but with their French, Dutch, and Indian 
neighbors, and the weight and influence they enjoyed among all 
the inhabitants of this Continent, first suggested the Congress, and 
then the Federal Government of the present day. 

It was a bold step to take without the assent of a higher 
authority, but the intestine troubles of England left her but little 
time to inquire into matters that sank into insignificance; when 
compared with the momentous struggles in which she was en- 
gaged, and it was sufiered to pass either without notice or with- 
out rebuke. 

This union subsisted until 1686, and presented a great obsta- 
cle in the way of adjusting every dispute between the mother 
country and the colonies, as the Commissioners ever counseled a 
firm opposition to what they called prerogative encroachment. 
When disobedience was unsafe, they recommended delay; and 
when remonstrance was unavailing, they advised resistance. 
But they never ceased to deny the rights, and impugn the mo- 
tives of the parent state, ungraciously regarding concessions as 
marks of weakness, and perversely constructing every refusal into 
an act of despotism. It mainly contributed to foster the feelings 
that subsequently ripened into febelhon. It illustrated the vast 
power of numbers and unity, the advantage that disaflection de- 
rives from centralization, and the easy and simple manner in 
which a federal combination of a few plantations may be made 
to adapt itself to any given number of States. 

A similar institution is recommended for the remaining British 
provinces. It is easy to foresee that a repetition of the experi- 
ment will produce a like result. The very extensive powers 
thus assumed by the confederation placed the united colonies in 
the situation of a sovereign and independent nation. One of its 
first acts was to receive a diplomatic agent from the French 
Governor of Acadie, a district of New France that comprised the 
territory now subdivided into Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 
with whom they entered into a treaty of peace and commerce, 
which was executed and ratified with the usual formalities. A 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 71 

charge (V affaires, was also received and accredited by tlie repub- 
lic from the Governor-General of" Canada on behalf of the King 
of France, and negotiations were entered into for reciprocal free- 
dom of trade, and for an oflensive and defensive alliance between 
the two high contracting parties, which alone failed of success 
from a dread on the part of Massachusetts of drawing down upon 
her the resentment of the Indian tribes. They also sent an en- 
voy to the Swedish commandant on the Delaware, and opened a 
correspondence with the Dutch settlement on the Hudson. 

Nothing now remained but to exercise the prerogative of an 
independent mint, to complete the usual attributes of sovereignty, 
and this w^as ventured upon without hesitation in 1652, when 
three sorts of silver coins, severally of the value of a shilling, six- 
pence, and threepence, were ordered to be struck ofi^ in large 
quantities. This money bore on the face of it no reference what- 
ever to the mother country, and no recognition of the ruling 
power there. It was essentially American. By order of the 
court, each piece was encircled by a double ring, having the in- 
scription, Massachusetts, with a native tree (pine), emblematical 
of the country on one side, and the w^ords "New England" and 
the year of our Lord on the other.* A large sum was thus 
struck off and put into circulation, and the right was exercised 
for a period of thirty years, although the coins for an obvious 
reason bore the same date. 

The change that had now taken place in the affairs of the 
king, damped the ardor of emigration, in proportion as the pros- 
pect increased, that the whole nation would shortly be subjected 

* The excuse for this coinage was even move modest than the act itself. Sir 
Thomas Temple, who had resided several years in New England, and was him- 
self a Puritan, gave the king a most extraordinary version of it. After the res- 
toration, when he returned to England, the king sent for him, and discoursed 
with him on the state of Massachusetts, and discovered great warmth against 
that colony. Among other things, he said they had invaded Lis prerogative by 
coining money. Sir Thomas, who was a real friend to the colony, told his maj- 
esty that the colonists had but little acquaintance with law, and that they 
thought it no crime to make money for their own use. In the course of the 
conversation, Sir Thomas took some of the money Out of his pocket, and pre- 
sented it to the king. On one side of the coin was a pine-tree, of that kind 
which is thick and bushy at the top. Charles asked what tree that was. Sir 
Thomas informed him it was the royal-oak, M'hich preserved his majesty's life. 
This account of the matter brought the king into good-humor, and disposed him 
to hear what Sir Thomas had to say in their favor, calling them a " parcel of 
honest dogs,"' — Hist. Col., vol. vii. p. 229. 



72 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

to the rule of the saints. But enough had been done to lay the 
foundation of a powerful republic. 

After the first indispensable wants of the people had been at- 
tended to, industry was directed to commerce and navigation, and 
a very profitable exchange took place, between the traders of 
Massachusetts and the planters of the West Indies, of the pro- 
ductions of their respective countries. In little more than ten 
years, fifty towns and villages, and between thirty and forty 
churches had been built, and some attempts had been made in 
manufacturing cotton. If they had reason to be gratified at 
the contemplation of their affairs at home, they saw with un- 
disguised delight the triumph of their party in England. The 
Parliament contained many friends who were most anxious to 
further their views in any way in their power. Nor was it long 
before they received a substantial mark of its favor. In 1642 it 
passed an ordinance for their encouragement, by freeing them 
from "taxation either inwards or outwards, in this kingdom or 
America, till the House take further order thereon to the contrary." 

During the same session it established a council for the colo- 
nies, similar to that of 1635, which entered immediately on its 
duties, and uniting Providence and Rhode Island into one gov- 
ernment, gave it a patent of incorporation containing the usual 
clause, that its enactments should not be repugnant to the laws 
of England. These favors they were willing to receive whenever 
they could be granted unasked, or at all events not openly solicit- 
ed, so much appearance of reserve did they think it necessary to 
maintain, in order that the dependence on the Imperial Legisla- 
ture, or its right to control them, could not be inferred from their 
acts. "Upon the great liberty," says Winthrop,* "which the 
king had left the Parhament, some of our friends there wrote to us 
advice to solicit for us in Parliament, giving us hopes that we 
might obtain much. But consulting about it, we declined the mo- 
tion for this consideration, that if we should put ourselves under their 
protection, we must then be subject to all such laws as they should 
make, or at least, such as they might impose upon us." So anx- 
ious were they to keep themselves totally distinct from the juris- 
diction of any exterior tribunal whatever, that when the assembly 
of preachers at Westminster sent for three of their ministers to 

* Wiutlirop, vol. IT. p. 25. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. V3 

join them in their dehherations, they dedined the invitation on 
the ground that " ii" the churches of New Eiigbnd appeared there 
by their representatives, great exception might be taken to the 
building after a model of their own making." Among their 
friends in the House of Commons, was Sir Harry Vane, who 
some years previously had visited Massachusetts, and from his 
sanctified manner, high professions, and demure appearance, was 
elected Governor, but his intriguing disposition, and fondness for 
theological controversy, soon involved him and the whole commu- 
nity in violent altercation. Hutchinson calls him an inexperi- 
enced but obstinate and self-sufficient man, and the people became 
so dissatisfied with his conduct, that they not only refused to re- 
elect him the following year, but would not even choose him as 
an assistant, and passed a law that no man should be eligible in 
future for the office of chief magistrate, until he had resided at 
least twelve months in the country. 

IMotwithstanding the disgust he felt at his defeat, as he was 
not very cordial with those with whom he was now acting (for 
his temper was so intractable as to render his support and his 
opposition equally precarious and dangerous), he procured, at the 
intercession of some of his old adherents in Boston, what protec- 
tion he could for them. It was probably owing to his influence 
that the Commons again in 1645 and 1G46 extended to them 
relief from imposts for three years, provided their productions 
were transported in English ships, and in the following year ex- 
empted all goods that should be exported to the plantation from 
custom duties. 

The weakness of the sovereign, and the importance of the in- 
terests at stake, now invited the interference of Parliament in the 
affairs of the colonies. Originally the king had claimed the ex- 
clusive right to legislate for them. One of the earliest acts in 
reference to America was passed in the reign of Edward VI. re- 
lating to Newfoundland, but this was not suffered to operate as 
a precedent. Queen Elizabeth, ever watchful of her prerogative, 
claimed the exclusive right to all countries discovered by her sub- 
jects. The first charter conferred upon an English colony was 
granted to Sir Humphry Gilbert, and its ample powers disclose 
the ideas of the age, with respect to the nature of such settle- 
ments. She vested in him in perpetuity the full right of proper- 
ty in the soil of those countries of which he should take posses- 

D 



74 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

sion, to be held of the Crown of England by homage, or payment 
of one-fifth of the gold und silver ore found there. " She confer- 
red upon him the complete jurisdiction and royalties, as well ma- 
rine as other, within the said lands and seas thereunto adjoining ; 
and as the common safety and interests of the people would ren- 
der good government necessary in their new settlements, she gave 
him his heirs and assigns, full power to convict, punish, pardon, 
govern, and rule, as well in causes capital or criminal as civil, 
both marine and other, according to such statutes, laws and ordi- 
nances, as shall be by him, his heirs and assigns, devised and es- 
tabhshed for their better government." She declared that all 
who settled there, should have and enjoy all the free privileges of 
free denizens and natives of England, any law, custom, or usage 
to the contrary notwithstanding ; and finally she prohibited all 
persons from attempting to settle within two hundred leagues of 
any place which Sir Humphrey Gilbert or his associates should 
have occupied during the space of six years." 

James, pursuing the same course as his predecessor, took the 
whole management of American affairs into his own hands. In 
1621, when the Commons introduced a bill for a free fishery on 
the coast of Virginia and New England, they were informed, 
" that those countries ought to be regarded as the king's, since 
they were acquired by conquest, and that not being yet annexed 
to the crown, his Majesty may govern such new plantations as 
he shall see fit." To which it was answered, "that the royal 
prerogative is not impeached by the present measure, since what 
is done here is done by the king himself, who hath a negative ; 
that those territories being holden of the Manor of East Green- 
wich are as much annexed to the crown as it ; and we may make 
laws here for Virginia and New England, because if the king 
and lords assent to the act it will control the patent." The 
royal prerogative in matters of trade, aided and enlarged the 
power assumed and possessed over plantations. To the exclusive 
right to give a Charter, therefore, was added a discretionary pow- 
er to license emigration, to permit the exportation of merchandise, 
and to grant exemption from imports for a limited time. 

It was in the exercise of this authority that James I. laid the 
foundation of the celebrated navigation act, by trying the experi- 
ment of its principle on a small scale in the trade of Virginia. 
The planters, having in 1G2J, sent their tobacco to Flushing and 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 75 

other ports, the king issued an order " tliat no tobacco or other 
production of the colonies shall be carried into foreign parts, till 
they are first landed in England, and the customs paid : for to 
suffer a traffic of that kind is as inconsistent with the view of 
settling Virginia as with the honor of the State." 

But the House of Commons, whose power was daily increasing, 
having taken upon itself to interfere in the affairs of the Ameri- 
can provinces, a new source of dread arose in the minds of the 
emigrants: for to their apprehensions of the king and the hier- 
archy, was now added that of the Parliament. Still they could 
not but congratulate themselves (if such a control was inevitable) 
on their good fortune in having escaped from its effects until the 
present most auspicious time for its exercise. It was very far, 
however, from their intention to acquiesce in the right, for they 
equally denied the jurisdiction of all three. Among the innova- 
tions that were contemplated, was a proposition to recall the old 
and grant a new and more perfect Charter. The General Court 
met for the purpose of considering the subject, which was deemed 
of such vital importance as to call for the aid of the Elders, who 
were accordingly convened to assist in their deliberations. The 
result of their conference was, as Parliament claimed " a supreme 
power in all things," not to accept a new patent ; for that would 
imply a resignation of the old one, and they resolved ; '* if they 
shall be less inclinable to us, we must wait upon Providence for 
the preservation of our just liberties." 

At that time it was the creed of every Puritan in the colony 
that if " the king or any party from him, shall attempt any thing 
against the commonwealth," it was the duty of the people " to 
spend estate, and life, and all, without scruple, in its defense ; 
that if the Parliament itself should hereafter be of a malignant 
spirit, then, if the province have sufficient strength, it may with- 
stand any authority from them to its hurt." Massachusetts went 
even so far as to call herself Reiniblica Perfect a, " a perfect re- 
public." Acting under these strong impressions, they remon- 
strated in most decided terms with the House of Commons (which 
had under its consideration the appeal of the petitioners 1 referred 
to in the last chapter) against any power of supervision. An 
order from England they say, is " prejudicial to our chartered lib- 
erties and to our well-being in this remote part of the world. 
Times may be changed, for all things here below are subject to 



76 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

variety, and other princes and parliaments may arise. Let not 
succeeding generations have cause to lament and say : ' England 
sent our fathers forth with happy liberties which they enjoyed 
many years, notwithstanding all the enmity and opposition of 
the prelacy and other potent adversaries, and yet these liberties 
were lost at the season when England itself recovered its own.' 
We rode out the dangers of the sea, shall we perish in port ? 
We have not admitted appeals to your authority, being assured 
they can not stand with the liberty and power granted us by our 
Charter, and would be destructive to all government. 

" These considerations are not new to the High Court of Par- 
liament, the records whereof bear witness of the wisdom and 
faithfulness of our ancestors in that great Council who, in those 
times of darkness, when they acknowledged a supremacy in the 
Roman Bishops, in all causes ecclesiastical, yet would not allow 
appeals to Rome. The wisdom and experience of that great 
Council, the English Parliament, are more able to prescribe rules 
of government, and judge causes, than such poor rustics as a 
wilderness can breed up, yet the vast distance between England 
and these parts abates the virtue of the strongest influences. 
Your councils and judgments can neither be so well-grounded, 
nor so seasonably applied, as might either be useful to us, or safe 
for yourselves, in your discharge in the great day of account. If 
any miscarriage shall befall us when we have the government in 
our own hands, the State of England shall not answer for it. 

" Continue your favorable aspect to these infant plantations, 
that we may still rejoice and bless our God under your shadow, 
and be there still nourished with the warmth and dew of Heaven. 
Confirm our liberties, discountenance our enemies, the disturbers 
of our peace, under pretense of our injustice. A gracious testi- 
mony of your wonted favor will oblige us and our posterity." 

The Committee of the House was favorable to them. They 
felt a lively interest in New England, not merely on account of 
its being the first-fruit of Puritanism, but because in the eventful 
times in which they lived it was not impossible it might yet be- 
come an asylum for themselves. " We encourage," they said, 
" no appeals from your justice, we leave you all the freedom and 
latitude that may in any respect be duly claimed by j^ou." 



CHAPTER VII. 

Massachusetts, with the Rebels in England — Proclamation against the King's 
Party — Hugh Peters sent to England to urge on the Rebellion — Cromwell 
appoints him his Chaplain, and presents him with a Commission of a Colonel 
in the Army — His favorite Text in Execution — The Provincials decline to use 
the names of the Keepers of the Liberties of England in Official Papers, or 
to renew their Charter — They also refuse to take part in the War between 
England and Holland— Conduct of the Virginians after the King's Death, con- 
trasted with theirs — Trade with Virginia forbidden — Admiral Ascue sent to 
reduce the Loyalists to Obedience — Puritans of Massachusetts flatter the 
Parliament, and approve Cromwell's Share in the Death of the King — He 
offers them Jamaica, or confiscated Estates in Ireland — Reasons for declin- 
ing — Arrival of the Regicides, Goffe andAVhalley — Their Reception and His- 
tory — Pretended Search for them — Conduct of Virginia at the Death of Crom- 
well, contrasted with that of Massachusetts — Extraordinary Letter of the 
General Court to Charles IL — The King proclaimed — People forbidden to 
drink his Health. 

Throughout the whole period of the Civil War, which finally 
ended in the captivity and death of Charles I., the colonists 
warmly and deeply sympathized with the Puritan rebels and 
saintly murderers of the unhappy monarch. Some of the more 
zealous and active spirits returned to their native land to join in 
the work of the brethren, and those who anxiously watched the 
progress of events at a distance, gave consolation and encourage- 
ment to the volunteers who departed in this holy cause. " If 
thy brother entice thee to serve other gods," they said, " thou 
shalt surely put him to death." " For speaking lies in the name 
of the Lord, his father shall thrust him through when he prophe- 
sieth." But the issue of human affairs is in Ilis hands, who 
alone directs them and as no one can tell what a day may bring 
forth, prudence dictated a simulated neutrality of conduct in their 
public acts. Accordingly, the following extraordinary proclama- 
tion was issued by the Governor : " Whereas the civil war and 
dissensions in our native country, through the seditious words and 
carriages of many evil-affected persons, cause divisions in many 
places of government in America, some professing themselves for 
the king, and others for the Parhament, not considering that the 
Parliament themselves profess that they stand lor the king and 



78 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

Parliament against malignant Papists and delinquents in that 
kingdom ; 

" It is therefore ordered, that what person soever shall by 
word, writing, or action, endeavor to disturb our peace, directly 
or indirectly, by drawing a party, under pretense that he is for 
the King of England and such as join with him against the 
Parhament, shall be accounted as an offender of a high nature 
against the commonwealth, and to be proceeded with either cap- 
itally or otherwise, according to the quality and degree of his 
offense. Provided always that this shall not be extended against 
any merchant strangers and shipmen that come hither merely for 
matters of trade or merchandise, albeit they should come from 
any of those parts that are in the hands of the king, and such as 
adhere to him against the Parliament ; carrying themselves here 
quietly, and free from railing or nourishing any faction, meeting, 
or sedition among us as aforesaid." 

Nothing can be more impartial than the recital which applies 
to both sides, and nothing better calculated to effect its object, 
than the enacting clause, had it not been for a slight omission of 
one of the contending parties. Had this document ever been 
called in question in after days, no doubt it could easily have 
been shown to have originated in a mistake of the clerk, or in an 
error of the press. 

While the civil war was in full progress, a parliamentary 
ordinance appointed the Earl of Warwick " Governor in Chief 
and Lord High Admiral of all those islands and plantations in- 
habited, planted, and belonging to any of his Majesty's the King 
of England's subjects, within the bounds and upon the coast of 
America," to be assisted by a council, composed of five peers, 
the Earls of Pembroke and Manchester, Viscount Say and Sele, 
Lords Wharton and Roberts, and twelve members of the House 
of Commons, among whom were Sir Harry Vane, late Governor 
of Massachusetts, Samuel Passall, one of the original patentees 
of that colony, Hazelrig, Pym, and Cromwell. This Board, a 
pretty close imitation of the late royal commission, of which Laud 
had been the head, was authorized " to provide for, order, and dis- 
pose all things which they shall from time to time find most fit 
and advantageous to the well-governing, securing, strengthening, 
and preserving of the said plantations, and chiefly to the preserva- 
tion of the true Protestant religion among the said planters and 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 79 

inhabitants, and the further spreading and advancement of the 
Gospel of Christ among those that yet remained there in great 
and miserable blindness and ignorance." They were also au- 
thorized to appoint, at pleasure, " all such subordinate governors, 
counselors, commanders, and officers as they shall judge to be 
best affected, and most fit and serviceable." But, as to any par- 
ticular plantations, they might, if they saw fit, depute to them 
any or all of the above granted powers. 

Republicanism was still further advanced in the colonies by 
this Board. They gave to the noted Koger WilUams a charter, 
including the shores and islands of Narraganset Bay, west of 
Plymouth, and south of Massachusetts, as far as the Pequod river 
and country, to be known as Providence Plantation, with author- 
ity to the inhabitants *' to rule themselves" as they should find 
"■ most suitable." This patent was, to all intents and purposes, 
a grant of independence. Similarity of religious and political 
sentiment, as well as gratitude for favors received, and hopes for 
the future, led the General Court to aid the revolutionary party 
in every way that was compatible with the possible contingency 
of a restoration. They accordingly set apart a day nominally for 
prayer, but, in fact, for thanksgiving, for the glad tidings from En- 
gland. Three agents, at the head of whom was the notorious Hugh 
Peters, the pastor of Salem, were sent there " to promote the in- 
terest of reformation, by stirring up the war, and driving it on." 

For this task, no man could be better qualified than Peters. 
Having been expelled from Cambridge, for irregularity of con- 
duct, he became a constant frequenter of the theatres, and led a 
dissolute life among the actors. Mistaking disgust and satiety — 
the inevitable consequence of debauchery — for repentance, he re- 
formed his habits, applied himself to theological studies, and was 
ordained by the Bishop of London. But such is the effect of 
early dissipation, that the temptations of the town, increased by 
abstinence, overpowered him again; and, having been detected 
in a most flagitious offense, he fled to Holland, to avoid the pun- 
ishment of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts. He did not quit 
the Church from conscientious scruples, but because he had 
violated his vows, and oilended against the laws of both God and 
man. Like many others in all ages, he resorted to hypocrisy as 
a cloak for his guilt, and was received by the Puritans as a 
" brand plucked from the fire." The buffoonery of his manner, 



80 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

and his singular power of modulating his voice, which he had 
acquired on the stage, rendered him a most popular preacher.* 
To these qualifications he added another of no less importance — 
a thorough hatred of royalty and episcopacy. His instructions 
from the General Court were either verbal, as being too dangerous 
to be recorded, or purposely destroyed after the Pvestoration, as 
they can not now be found ; but their sanguinary nature appears 
abundantly in his trial. Such being his popular talents, and 
such his errand, he was welcomed by Cromwell with open arms, 
who created him his own chaplain, and presented him with the 
commission of a colonel in the army, saying, at the same time, 
that he always found those who excelled in prayer made the best 
soldiers. 

The favorite text of the colonial delegate and divine but too 
plainly indicated the object for which he crossed the ocean : 
" With high praises in our mouths, and a two-edged sword in 
our hands, we are to execute judgment upon the heathen, and 
punishments upon the people ; to bind their kings with chains, 
and their nobles with fetters of iron." t 

When the unhappy monarch was brought a prisoner to Lon- 
don, Peters was his jailer, for which office his savage temper and 
oiFensive manners were considered as the best qualifications. 
Whether he was one of the masked headsmen is involved in 
some obscurity. Mr. White Kennet says, that he was generally 
suspected to have been one, and a man of the name of Hulet the 
other. In publicly returning thanks for being permitted to share 
in the awful scene, he exulted, as he said, with Simeon : " Lord, 
now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes 
have seen Thy salvation." His conduct at his own execution 
has been variously represented. Burnet, in his " History of his 
Own Times," says : " That he was the most sunken in spirits of 
any of the regicides. He had not the honesty to repent, nor the 
strength of mind to suffer for his crime. He was observed to be 
constantly drinking some cordial liquors to keep him from faint- 

* In those days tbe hour-glass often found a place in the pulpit. In a likeness 
of him, prefixed to his life, he is represented as turning one, and saying to his 
congregation, "I know you are good fellows, stay and take another glass. 

t For want of excitement, Peters' zeal among his parishioners at Salem was 
ohserved to have greatly cooled before he sailed on this mission. He had sup- 
pressed the weekly lecture there, to enable him to prosecute schemes for the 
fisheries, and for ship building. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 81 

ing." Equally respectable authorities say, that he met his fate 
■with firmness and resolution. The former version has probability 
so recommend it. Harrison and others were enthusiasts, who 
thought they were acting in obedience to the will of Heaven, of 
which they believed that they were the chosen instruments. 
However much they deluded themselves, it was at all events 
their firm conviction, and they had the honest support of a mis- 
guided conscience to sustain them in their last moments, while 
their courage as men had too often been exhibited to admit of a 
doubt. Peters, on the other hand, so far from having been 
trained in the rigid school of Puritan morals, was nurtured in 
profligacy, and adopted the tenets of the Congregationalists, not 
because he believed them, but that they afforded him an asylum 
when expelled from all respectable society. It is not improbable, 
therefore, that like most ruffians he was a coward.* 

But much as the Provincials sympathized with the Parha- 
ment, and firmly as they believed that Providence had sanc- 
tioned their undertaking, and crowned their arms with success, 
they thought their own prayers had been equally heard, and their 
cause no less blessed, and that their little republic was as much 
their own, as the greater one was the heritage of the transat- 
lantic saints. Accordingly, when admonished that all process in 
the local courts should be in the name of the keepers of the liber- 
ties of England, and that the poM^ers then in being should be 
acknowledged by a renewal of their charter, they adopted the 
prudent course of maintaining silence and delay, as better suited 
to their purpose than open defiance ; and continued the forms to 
which they had been accustomed, without too broadly asserting 
their rights on the one hand, or apologizing for their disobedience 
on the other. They observed the same reserve afterward, when 
Cromwell transmitted a ratified treaty with Holland as to the 
boundaries of New England, and the Dutch colony on the Hud- 
son. They declined to exchange it with the governor of that 
province, informing him that such a formality was unnecessary, 
as the line indicated on it was one which they had always held, 
and by which they were still willing to abide. 

Shortly afterward they assumed a still more decided attitude. 
When a rupture took place in Europe between England and 

* His widow, who remained in New England, was allowed a pension of 
thirty pounds per annum from his friends and admirers in Massachusetts. 



83 THE ExNGLISH IN AMlilliCA. 

Holland, they informed Cromwell that they did not consider 
it necessary for them to embroil themselves in hostilities as 
a necessary consequence of European wars, and very quietly 
continued to maintain, as before, friendly relations with their 
Belgic neighbors. Upon being again pressed upon the subject, 
and requested to join in an expedition he had sent for the reduc- 
tion of the Manhattan settlements, they pleaded scruples of con- 
science as to embarking in foreign wars, and stated it was more 
agreeable to the Gospel of Peace, which they professed, and 
safest for the provinces, to forbear the use of the sword ; but to 
show their respect for his Highness the Protector, and their grat- 
itude to God for having raised him to supreme authority, that all 
the churches may find rest, they gave permission to the com- 
manders of his forces to enlist five hundred volunteers within 
the state, provided the said recruits were severally free from 
legal disabilities. Although they had thus artfully evaded com- 
pliance with his order in a matter that would have established a 
dangerous precedent, they cheerfully admitted the lawfulness of 
his power in the mother country, and a day was set apart for 
public thanksgiving to Divine Providence " for the hopeful estab- 
lishment of a government in England." 

Much stress has been laid in this work on the importance to 
be attached to the character and feeling of the early settlers of a 
country, and the necessity of giving due weight to such a consid- 
eration is well illustrated by the different conduct at this critical 
period of Massachusetts, which was peopled by Puritans, and 
Virginia and other colonies, to which Churchmen and the friends 
of the monarchy resorted. We have seen that the former dis- 
countenanced the royal partisans within her borders, and sent 
agents to England with secret instructions to forward the rebel- 
lion. The latter, together with Barbadoes, Antigua, and Ber- 
muda, adhered to the king, even while in exile. Virginia had a 
population of twenty thousand, and was determined to resist the 
usurpation of the rebel forces. Observing that wherever the In- 
dependents settled, they sowed the seeds of republicanism, they 
passed severe laws against them, in order to rid themselves of 
such troublesome inmates. Driven from thence, they settled in 
Maryland, which had soon reason to repent of her hospitality. 
" They were as much refreshed with their entertainment in 
Maryland," quaintly observes a contemporaneous author, " as the 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 83 

snake in the fable was with the countryman's breast, for which 
they were equally thankful." 

They began to pick quarrels first with the Papists, next with 
the oath of fidelity, and lastly, they declared their averseness to 
all conformity, wholly aiming, as themselves smce confessed, to 
" deprive the Lord Proprietors of that country, and to make it 
their own." 

Virginia al&o ofTered at the same time an asylum to the loyal- 
ists who fled from the proscriptions and unrelenting cruelty of 
the republican forces. They went so far as to propose to their 
exiled prince to take refuge among them, instead of seeking pro- 
tection from a foreign power. Charles 11. , on his part, sent from 
Breda a new commission to the faithful governor of that true- 
hearted people, in which he declared it to be his purpose to rule 
them according to the laws of England. At the same time, he 
recommended them to build forts for preventing internal rebellion 
or foreign aggression. Enraged at the devotion of these loyal 
colonies, an order was passed by the Parliament, empowering the 
Council to reduce the refractory plantations to obedience, and 
enacting that foreign ships should not trade at any of the ports 
of these four malignant provinces — Barbadoes, Antigua, Ber- 
muda, and Virginia. 

Massachusetts on this occasion exhibited her usual skill. She 
re-enacted the law against the malignants, and prohibited all 
intercourse with Virginia until she acknowledged the supremacy 
of the commonwealth. This was done with the double view of 
gratifying the Protector, and of escaping from the inference that 
any legislation was binding upon her but that of the General 
Court. Cromwell was not a man to content himself with a 
paper war. In the ordinance relative to the prohibition of their 
trade, he used language which showed how deeply he felt the 
opposition of the loyalists, and gave a sure presage of vigorous 
measures. In that extraordinary act, he calls them notorious 
robbers and traitors, and adds that as the colonies were settled 
by and at the cost of England, they ought to obey her laws. 
To enforce a submission which threats could not extort, he dis- 
patched Admiral Ascue with a powerful armament. He was 
instructed to use, in the first instance, peaceable means to bring 
the people to obedience, but if they should prove unsuccessful, to 
employ hostility, setting free such servants and slaves as would 



84 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 

fight against their masters, and causing justice to be adminig- 
tered in the name of the commonwealth. 

The force thus sent against the royahsts was too powerful for 
the undisciplined planters, and when the Governor Berlcelly, who 
had made every possible exertion to defend the country, capitu- 
lated, it was upon very favorable terms, that were as satisfactory 
to his sovereign, as they were honorable to his own skill and 
courage. 

A variety of circumstances now contributed to the adoption of 
a polic}^ and the passing laws in pursuance thereof, which has 
exercised a most powerful influence on the fortunes of the mother 
country, whether for good or for evil, statesmen are not yet agreed, 
and mainly contributed in various ways to produce the American 
Revolution. It was the era of the navigation laws. Alarmed 
at the diminution of English commerce, and the great increase of 
that of the colonies as well as of the north, while Cromwell 
protected his own and humbled a rival, he managed to punish 
the loyal plantations, and make them pay tribute for disobedience. 
With this view two acts were framed, one of which expressly 
prohibited all mercantile intercourse between the transatlantic 
provinces and foreign states, and the other ordained that no pro- 
duction of Asia, Africa, or America, should be imported into the 
dominions of the commonwealth but in vessels belonging to 
British owners, or to the people of the colonies, and navigated by 
an English commander, and by crews the greater part of whom 
were to be subjects of the realm, for foreigners were also precluded 
from bringing to England any thing but the produce of their own 
respective countries, or those of which they were the staples. At 
first this created more alarm than annoyance. As far as the 
Provincials were concerned, they evaded or disregarded it, while 
it increased their carrying trade by transferring to them a part of 
that enjoyed by the Dutch. The ground work, however, was 
securely laid for the vast superstructure erected upon it after the 
Restoration. 

Although the colonial Puritans had never yielded that sub- 
mission, either to the Parliament or to Cromwell, which the 
Protector thought was due from all parts of the empire, they 
nevertheless managed to keep on the best possible terms with 
them. They omitted no occasion of soothing their vanity, for 
which they had an insatiable appetite. To the former they said 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 83 

(and I insert their own words as their participation in the re- 
bellion is now stoutly denied) — " And for our carriage and de- 
meanor to the honorable Parliament, for these ten years, since 
the first beginning of your differences with the late King, and the 
warre that after ensued, we have constantly adhered to you, not 
withdrawn ourselves in your weakest condition, and doubtfullest 
times, but by our fasting and prayers for your good success, and 
our thanksgiving after the same was attained in days of solemnity 
set apart for the purpose, as also by our sending over useful men 
{others alsoe going voluntarilij from us to help yon), ivho have 
been of good use and done good and acceptable service to the 
army,* declaring to the world hereby, that such was the duty 
and love we beare unto the Parliament, that we were ready to 
rise and fall with them, for which we have suffered the hatred 
and threats of other English colonies now in rebellion against 
you, as alsoe the loss of divers of our shippes and goods taken by 
the King's party that is dead, by others commissioned by the 
King of Scotts, and by the Portugales." 

They had heard from Cromwell's officers that he had a sore 
spot on his conscience, and they knew how to soothe, if they 
could not heal it. They were aware from the agitation of mind 
that he occasionally suffered on the subject of the king's death, 
that nothing was so acceptable to him as to hear others, whose 
judgment he respected, approve of the deed as a necessary act of jus- 
tice. Availing themselves of these scruples, which at times threw 
him into the deepest gloom, the Puritan divines of New England 
occasionally gratified him with an epistle, expressive of their 
entire concurrence in the reasoning that led to that foul murder. 
Mr. Cotton, one of the most distinguished ministers, thus ad- 
dressed him, in a letter dated Boston, 28th day, 5th month, 1767. 
" There are three or four principles on which you have acted, 
wherein my judgment hath been fully satisfied. 1st. The con- 
cessions of the late King never were such as to insure a safe 
peace either to Church or Commonwealth. 2d. When the 
Parliament, assisted by the Commissioners from Scotland was 

* These italicised words refer to the mission of Peters and others. Besides 
many who served as soldiers, and several who attained subordinate command, 
the following names of colonial officers who fought under Cromwell have sur- 
vived : Colonel Cook, Lieutenant-Colonel Stoughton, Major Bourne, Captain 
Leverete, Ensign Hudson, and Dr. Liol, who acted as regimental surgeon. 
Winthrop says they did good service, and w ere well approved. 



86 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

full, and agreed that the King could not be restored to his former 
estate, if it afterward voted contrary, it was prevarication, and 
therefore I know not how the army could have better proved its 
faithfulness to the State and cause, than by purging it of such 
corrupt humors, and presenting the Ki?ig to public trial. Joab, 
the General of David's host, though he went beyond his commis- 
sion in putting Absalom to death, yet he went not beyond his 
fidelity. These things are so clear to my apprehension that I am 
fully satisfied that you have all this while fought the Lord's 
battles. In like frame are the spirits of our brethren, the elders 
and churches in these parts." 

For this he evinced the warmest gratitude, and offered to give 
them Jamaica, and transport them thither, or settle them all in 
Ireland on confiscated estates. In his turn he flattered their 
sectarian pride. He represented to them what a blow it would 
be to the " Man of Sin," to have a pure-minded and holy body 
of men like them established in such a country as the former, 
where his sway had been so great. He told them the children 
of the Lord were entitled to a paradise for their abode, like that 
beautiful island, and drew a glowing picture of the fortunes 
people of their habits of sobriety and industry, would derive from 
a change of residence. In Ireland he promised them the lands 
of the heathen for an heritage, and in either or both, his continued 
patronage and support. They had, however, other and more 
practical views. They dreaded, not only the unwholesomeness 
of a tropical climate, but its inevitable effect in the course of time 
on the morals and manners of the people. If they were to accept 
Ireland they would have to surrender their independence, and by 
returning to the undoubted jurisdiction of the supreme power in 
England, they might be again called upon to conform, to suffer, 
or to migrate. They felt safe in their distant flight, and were 
unwilling to move. 

But perilous times now awaited the republic. There were 
strong indications, it was said, of a reaction in England. Their 
friend and advocate Oliver Cromwell was dead, and his son gave 
no evidence of sufficient vigor to fill the place of his father, either 
in the eyes of the nation or the estimation of Europe. Cant was 
fast going out of fashion, and mankind had learned the useful 
lesson, that he who has ever religion in his mouth has seldom 
much of it in his heart. Those who were sincere in their con- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 87 

victions, and had abstained from deeds of violence, looked on the 
coming change with the calmness and fimness of true courage, 
while such as had been hurried by their zeal into criminal acts, 
or had concealed rapine and murder under a cloak of hypocrisy, 
fled in terror and dismay. 

Among those who sought shelter and oblivion in the wilds of 
America, were two of the regicides, GofFe and Whalley. Find- 
ing the restoration inevitable, they left London early in May, and 
arrived in Boston in the month of July following, in the full 
expectation of being either protected or concealed among the 
brethren, who in general agreed with them in opinion that " kill- 
ing was no murder," when the person to suffer was a tyrant 
who thought Romanists were entitled to as much indulgence as 
themselves, and Churchmen, as members of the established relig- 
ion, to more favors than either. Nor were they disappointed in 
their reasonable expectations. They' were cordially received and 
hospitably entertained by the governor, the officers of the state, 
and the principal inhabitants ; and on one occasion, when a 
royalist dared to apply to them the homely epithet to which they 
had so well entitled themselves by their atrocious crime, the 
magistrates bound the offender over to keep the peace, and 
severely reprimanded him for insulting their distinguished visitors, 
by imputing to them as an offense that which, if not a virtuous 
and patriotic deed, was at least a stern necessity. The meeting- 
houses were every where opened to them, and they attended 
divine service on Sundays, and observed the fasts and public 
thanksgiving as established by law. The sacrament was ad- 
ministered to them as worthy communicants, and the saints 
were edified by the exercise of their great gifts in praying and lec- 
turing, as they raised their hands, dyed with the blood of their 
sovereign, and enlarged on the necessity of forgiveness of sins, 
brotherly love, and good-will to all men. 

The king's proclamation exempting these criminals from the 
amnesty, though it did not disturb the consistency of the Puri- 
tans, awakened their fears lest their contumacy in harboring 
traitors might draw down upon them the forfeiture of their char- 
ter, which of all their earthly possessions, had the greatest hold 
on the affection of their hearts. Intimation was therefore given 
them to withdraw from view for the present, till the storm of 
popular indignation in England should blow over, and instruc- 



88 THE ENGLISH IN AiMERICA 

tions were privately furnished them to proceed to the minister's 
house at New Haven, while dihgent search would be made for 
them in such places as it was well known they would not be 
found. After a suitable time for escape had been allowed to 
elapse, the colonial rulers preserved appearances by affecting 
great zeal for capturing them, and a warrant was accordingly 
issued for their apprehension. To avoid even the semblance of 
partiality, instead of intrusting it to their own officers, who 
might be supposed willing to favor their concealment, it was 
directed to two Englishmen,* recently arrived from Europe, 
zealous loyalists and rank Episcopalians, who only required a 
knowledge of the country, and the sympathy of the population in 
their errand, to have succeeded in their enterprise. Duped by 
the apparent earnestness of the governor, and the full and 
minute directions they received as to the best route to adopt in 
their search, and misled by the well-feigned ignorance and aston- 
ishment of every one to whom they addressed themselves for in- 
formation, they prosecuted their fruitless errand, to the inex- 
pressible amusement of the court, to whom a practical joke, from 
the gravity of manner they were continually compelled to ob- 
serve, was a luxury which they rarely had an opportunity of 
enjoying.t 

Having traveled as far as the Hudson, they relinquished the 
pursuit as hopeless, and returned to report their failure to the 
governor, who very gravely informed them that they had been 
seen near New Haven ; from which he inferred that they must 
have entered the Manhattan settlement, and escaped to the low 
countries ; and recommended them by all means to go to Hol- 
land, and continue their search, which, as the country was not 
covered by an interminable forest, like America, could scarcely 
fail of being crowned with success. 

During all this time, the i'ugitives were minutely informed of 
all that took place ; and, in order to reheve their hospitable 
friend, the Rev. Mr. Davenport, from any imputation on their 
account, they prepared a cave in the side of a hill, having a 

* Thomas Kellond and Thomas Kirk, whom they uot inappropriately called 
Tom. fools. 

t Now and then a little dry humor would leak out in spite of themselves. A 
mechanic, having charged the Government X2 13s. Ad. for a pair of stocks, was 
ordered to be put into them himself for an hour, to test the strength of his work, 
and was fined X5 lor extortion. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 89 

small aperture to admit air and light, and so contrived as to be 
efiectually concealed by the thick brushwood that overhung its 
precipitous banks. To this they gave the name of Providence 
Hill, and resorted to it occasionally in times of danger, when a 
residence among their friends was either inconvenient or unsafe. 

At last, a party of Indians having accidentally discovered their 
retreat, they removed to a town called Had ley, about a hundred 
miles distant, resting by day, and traveling by night, in order to 
avoid being traced thither. 

They were received at this place by the minister, and contin- 
ued there fifteen or sixteen years, or until their decease, enjoying 
the sympathy of such of the inhabitants as were intrusted with 
their secret, the liberal contributions of their friends at home and 
abroad, and on one occasion the guilty pleasure of the society of 
another of their associates in crime, Colonel Dixvvell, who, hav- 
ing been less obnoxious than they, and more fortunate in his 
disguises, had not only avoided detection, but had wholly es- 
caped suspicion, and was at large under the assumed name of 
Davis. 

A singular incident, connected with Gofle, has been tradition- 
ally preserved in the family of Governor Leveret, and is thus 
quaintly related by a historian of this early time : 

"The town of Hadley was alarmed by the Indians, in 1575, 
in the time of public worship, and the people were in the utmost 
confusion. Suddenly a grave, elderly person appeared in the 
midst of them. In his mien, he differed from the rest of the 
people. He not only encouraged them to defend themselves, but 
put himself at their head ; rallied, instructed, and led them on 
to encounter the enemy, who in this way were repulsed. As 
suddenly the deliverer of Hadley disappeared. The people were 
left in consternation, utterly unable to account for this strange 
phenomenon." It was not probable (the apologists say) that 
they were ever able to explain it. If Gofle had there discovered 
himself, it must have come to the knowledge of those persons 
who declared by their letters that they never knew what became 
of him. 

Both these men were of low origin and mean education, and 
emerged from obscurity only by their daring courage, and their 
unscrupulous obedience to the bidding of the Protector. Whal- 
ley had risen to the rank of lieutenant, and Gofle to that of 



90 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

major-general in the rebel army * and upon the latter devolved 
the task of expelling the members of Parliament from the House, 
and of executing commands of a similar violent character. They 
died as they lived, in the full belief of that fatal doctrine, that 
the end justifies the means : and afforded by their crimes, their 
cruelty, and their impenitence, an instructive lesson to fanatics 
that the religion of the head but too often hardens the heart ; 
that speculative theories have a natural tendency to obliterate 
the distinctions between right and wrong, by withdrawing our 
attention from the practical obligations of life ; and that the 
stern virtues inculcated by Scripture are accompanied, sur- 
rounded, and supported by the Christian graces of mildness, 
meekness, and charity, and a numerous train of social and rela- 
tive duties. 

As at the fall of Charles I. the conduct of the Puritans of 
Massachusetts differed widely from that of loyal Virginia, so did 
the death of Cromwell also affect them in an equally opposite 
manner. In the latter place, as soon as they had heard of the 
decease of the usurper, without waiting for new^s from England 
of their sovereign's movements, they immediately proclaimed 
him, subverted the authority, to which they had so reluctantly 
submitted, and recalled from retirement their former governor, 
and invested him \vith the chief command, thus securmg to 
themselves the double honor of being the last to lay down their 
arms, and the first to re-assume them, in the defense of their king. 
In the former colony they would not or could not believe that 
Providence would ever suffer him to sit upon the throne of his 
ancestors, even after they received a copy of his proclamation. 
A motion for an address to him was put and lost in the General 
Court. When they called to mind the part they had taken in 
the rebellion, and the infamous conduct of their agent, Peters, 
their official and private letters to Cromwell, their own procla- 
mation against the king's adherents, their acts against Virginia, 
their continual disobedience and disloyalty to his royal father, the 
reception and protection they had given the regicides, they were 
overwhelmed wdth doubts and fears as to the future. The re- 
sistance which their ministers had recommended to them on a 
former occasion, they knew would be unavaihng against so pow- 
erful a monarch as Charles II., they therefore resorted to the 
* The well-known Richard Baxter was chaplain to Whalley's regiment. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 91 

other alternative, " evasion and delay." They first ventured to 
feel their way by an address, containing the following extraor- 
dinary passage : 

" Sir, we lie not before your sacred Majesty. The Lord God 
of Gods knoweth, and Israel he shall know, if it were in rebellion 
or in schism that we willingly left our dwellings in our own 
country for dwellings in this strange land, save us not this day. 
lloyal Sir, your just title to the crown enthroneth you in our con- 
sciences, your graciousness in our affections ; that inspires unto 
duty, this naturalizeth unto loyalty. Hence we call you lord, 
hence a saviour. Mephibosheth rejoices that the king hath come 
again to his house. The truth is, such were the impressions upon 
our spirits as transcends the faculty of an eremitical scribe. A 
desert condition in some sense is an object fittest to magnify prince- 
ly radiance, inferior whereof can not make the wilderness rejoice. 
Opaque bodies occasion the most luculent reflections. Affection 
makes a rhetorician Croesus' dumb son speak to prevent misery, 
and Zedekiah's tongue breaketh loose to acknowledge mercy. 
Warm with the influence of your royal favor, we, by way of con- 
gratulation, comforted ourselves that the breath of our nostrils, 
the anointed of the Lord, hath escaped : of whom we begin to 
say, under his shadow we shall live among the heathen." 

The absurdity and extravagance of this language is thus grave- 
ly defended by Bancroft : " The spirit that breathes through it 
is republican. The style of hyperbole is borrowed from the man- 
ners of the East, so familial' from the study of the Hebreiv 
Scriptitres.'' 

The truth of these protestations, so solemnly made, was well 
attested by the manner in which Charles was proclaimed. This 
ceremony had been deferred, from a natural repugnance to ac- 
knowledge him at all ; but, in August, 1661, the aspect of af- 
fairs was so alarming, it was thought prudent to propitiate him, 
by complying with this usual and constitutional practice. To 
the act itself there could be no objection; the difficulty lay in so 
carefully conducting their proceedings, and in so wording the pub- 
lic document, as not to admit him, in express language, to have 
any authority in Massachusetts, beyond that of a temporal prince, 
with whose ancestors they had entered into a compact, whereby, 
for himself and his heirs, he had surrendered the territory, com- 
prised within certain specified limits, on the nominal condition of 



92 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

receiving a fifth of the produce of all silver and gold mines. Ac- 
cordingly a number of forms were proposed and discussed, but 
were severally rejected, as admitting too much by vrords or by 
implication, until, at last, the following extraordinary one was 
adopted, as the shortest, simplest, and safest that they could sug- 
gest : " Forasmuch, as Charles II. is undoubtedly king of Great 
Britain, and all other his Majesty's territories and dominions, 
thereunto belonging, and hath been some tim^ since lawfully pro- 
claimed and crowned accordingly ; we therefore, do, as in duty 
we are bound, own and acknowledge him to be our sovereign 
Lord and King ; and do, therefore, hereby proclaim and declare 
his sacred Majesty, Charles II., to be lawful king of Great 
Britain, France, and Ireland, and all other the territories there- 
unto belonging. God save the King." 

It is observable that his Majesty is here described as king of 
Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and all other the territories 
thereunto belonging, which term is satisfied by the Orkneys and 
Channel Islands ; but no mention is made of America, Massachu- 
setts, or the words colonies or plantations. Brief and cold, how- 
ever, as this declaration was, it was adopted with great repug- 
nance, and the day passed in ominous gloom. An order of the 
Court was issued at the same time, and posted up in various 
parts of Boston, forbidding all disorderly behavior on the occa- 
sion, declaring that no person might expect indulgence for the 
breach of any law, and, " in a particular manner, that no man 
should presume to drink his Majesty's health, which he has in an 
especial manner forbidden'' 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The King appoints a Council for the Colonies — Their Advice — Connecticut and 
Rhode Island send Agents, who obtain for them Charters containing full Pow- 
ers of Self government — Navigation Laws — They fall heavily on Virginia, and 
alarm all the Provincials — The General Court publishes a Declaration of 
Rights — Their Reasoning as to the Origin of their Title to the Country — They 
send Agents to England — Instruction given to them, and Letters of Introduc- 
tion to Noblemen of Low Church or Dissenting principles — They meet with 
a favorable Reception, and return with a Letter from the King requiring cer- 
tain Changes in their Laws and Modes of Procedure — An affected Show of 
Compliance — Dissipation of Churchmen, of Baptists, and especially of (Quak- 
ers — Severe Treatment of latter — A Commission of Inquiry issues to Colonel 
Nichols and others — Their Instructions — General Court orders the Charter to 
be put into a Place of Concealment — Prepares to receive the Commissioners. 

The convention Parliament had scarcely adjourned, when 
Charles II. performed the promise he had made at parting, and 
endeavored to carry into effect the various acts of a foreign and 
domestic nature they had made. He established, in December, 
1660, a council for the general superintendence of the colonies, 
and enforcing the laws of trade. Had he always acted upon their 
suggestions, he would have saved his own reputation, and spared 
himself and his successors many vexations and annoyances. 
They urged him " to agree with such as have any property in his 
plantations, and take the same into his own hands, in order to 
prevent the granting any for the future." Sir William Berkeley, 
the old and loyal Governor of Virginia, repeated the same recom- 
mendation, most truly foretelling "that those patents in the next 
age will be found more advantageous to the crown than is per- 
ceptible in this." 

Notwithstanding this judicious advice, and the pending diffi- 
culties and controversies, he at once made two of the most extra- 
ordinary grants, of a pure, unmixed, and unrestrained democracy, 
that were ever issued by any monarch. The constitution of 
Massachusetts, it was well known, was an usurpation — the 
application of a local charter, by a company in London, for the 
purposes of civil government in America ; but these were bona 
fide concessions, no deception was practiced, no information with- 



94 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

held. Republicanism was asked, and obtained. Connecticut 
and Rhode Island having favors to seek, were more prompt in 
proclaiming the king than Massachusetts, and at once sent 
delegates to congratulate him on his restoration, and to solicit 
charters. On their arrival in England they were introduced to 
some Low Churchmen, of rank and influence, in whom they 
found most active partisans. Men whose lives are chiefly spent 
in making professions, are seldom able to find sufficient time to 
practice what they so loudly extol. Their sectarian sympathy 
was stronger than their loyalty, and the interest of the king and 
the nation were transferred, by hypocritical politicians, into the 
hands of crafty republicans. The charters they obtained for the 
delegates, vested in the propriety of freemen of Connecticut and 
Rhode Island the right of admitting new associates, and of 
choosing annually from among themselves a governor, magis- 
trates, and representatives, with power of legislative and judicial 
authority. No appellative jurisdiction, and no negative on the 
laws, were reserved to the crown any more than in Massachusetts 
and Maryland. They were, to all intents and purposes, entitled 
to self-government ; so much so, indeed, that these same royal 
patents remained the basis of their polity long after they became 
independent states. Even the oath of allegiance was not required 
of them. The usual clause, stipulating that their laws should 
be conformable to those of England, was modified, or rendered 
nugatory by an extraordinary reference *' to the constitution of 
the place, and the nature of the people." It granted universal 
toleration to all mankind, without limitation to Christian sects. 

It is no wonder tlie joy of the Provincials knew no bounds. 
The grant exceeded their fondest and most ardent hopes. In 
Rhode Island the inhabitants were assembledr " for its solemn 
reception." The Charter was read in the audience and view of 
all the inhabitants, and the letters with his Majesty's royal stamp 
and the broad-seal, with much beseeming gravity, were held up 
on high, and presented to the " perfect view of the people." So 
completely had the king denuded himself of alk power, that in a 
subsequent reign, when the Rhode Islanders claimed the protec- 
tion and interference of the sovereign against the oppressions of 
their own legislature, arising from frauds practiced on them in a 
depreciated currency, that monarch replied, under the advice of 
the Crown officers, that he could afford them no redress, since his 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 95 

misadvised predecessor had relinquished all jurisdiction. At this 
period, therefore, New England consisted of several little inde- 
pendent republics. 

While vast concessions vi^ere thus made on the one hand, most 
extensive restrictions were imposed on the other, by extending 
and remodehng the laws of trade. So much indeed was added 
to the outline sketched by the Long Parliament, and so novel, as 
well as important, were many of the provisions of this celebrated 
act (12th Charles II., c. 18), that it seems to have attracted to 
itself a name that more properly belongs to several, and has ever 
been known as the Navigation Law. The avowed motives for 
this restrictive legislation, were thus set forth : " That as the 
plantations beyond seas are inhabited and peopled by subjects of 
England, they may be kept in a firmer dependence upon it, and 
rendered yet more beneficial and advantageous in the further 
employment and increase of English shipping and seamen, as 
well as in the vent of woolen and other manufactures and com- 
modities, and in making England a staple not only of the produc- 
tions of those plantations, but also of those of other countries, and 
places for supplying them, and it being the usage of other nations 
to keep the trade of the plantations to themselves." 

Colonial industry at that period furnished many articles for 
exportation, but these were of two kinds. Some were raised in 
quantities in America only, and would not compete with British 
productions in the market of the mother country : these were 
enumerated, and it was declared that none of them, that is, no 
sugar, tobacco, ginger, indigo, cotton, fustic, and dyeing woods, shall 
be transported to any other country than those belonging to the 
Crown of England, under penalty of forfeiture ; and as new ar- 
ticles of industry of this class grew up in America, they were 
added to the list. But such other commodities as the English 
merchant might not find convenient to buy, the Provincials might 
ship to foreign markets, and the further ofT the better, because 
they would thus interfere less with the trade which was carried 
on in England. The colonists were therefore confined to ports 
south of Finisterre. Soon after the act of navigation was ex- 
tended, and additional restraints imposed, by prohibiting the im- 
portation of any European commodities into the colonies but what 
was laden in England in vessels navigated and manned according 
to law. Efiectual provision was also made for exacting the 



96 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

penalties to which the transgressors were subjected. By these 
successive regulations, the plan of securing to England a monopoly 
of the commerce with her colonies, and of closing every other 
channel into which it might be diverted, was perfected and 
reduced into a complete system. 

These acts filled the Provincials with consternation and anger, 
and by calling into question the right of the Imperial Legislature 
to pass them, materially extended the disaffection which neglect, 
the constant changes in the government of the mother country, 
and the spread of democratic principles had of late so much en- 
gendered. They fell with peculiar weight upon Virginia, on 
account of the nature of her productions, and were felt to be an 
ungrateful return for her tried loyalty and affection. Great 
Britain never afterward thoroughly regailied her affections ; as 
soon as they went into operation, that colony remonstrated against 
them as a grievance, and petitioned earnestly for relief But the 
commercial ideas of Charles and his ministers coincided so per- 
fectly with those of Parliament, that instead of listening with a 
favorable ear to their application, they labored assiduously to carry 
the acts into strict execution. For this purpose the most positive 
instructions were issued to the governor, forts were built on the 
banks of the principal rivers, and small vessels appointed to cruise 
on the coast. 

The Virginians seeing no prospect of obtaining exemption, 
sought relief in evasion, and found means, notwithstanding the 
vigilance with which they were watched, of carrying on a con- 
siderable clandestine trade with foreigners, particularly with the 
Dutch settled on the Hudson River. Every day something 
occurred to revive and nourish discontent. As it is with extreme 
difficulty that commerce can be turned into a new channel, to- 
bacco, the staple of the colony, sunk prodigiously in value when 
they were compelled to send it all to one market. It was some 
time before England could furnish them regularly full assortments 
of those necessary articles, without which the industry of the 
country could not be sustained or properly secured. The sense 
of wrong the people of Massachusetts entertained on the subject 
of their revenue laws, was absorbed in the interest felt in the 
preservation of their Charter, or mitigated by their predetermina- 
tion to resist them if able, otherwise " to protract or evade," 
according to the advice of their elders. Having received a more 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 97 

gracious answer to their complimentary letters to the king than 
they had expected, and somewhat recovered from the apprehension 
arising from a review of their disloyal conduct, they resolved to 
maintain with their accustomed energy and spirit what they 
conceived to be their just claims of independence under their 
patent. They accordingly took into consideration the whole 
subject of their own powers, and those of the Crown, and after 
mature deliberation, agreed upon and published a declaration of 
rights. 

I. Concerning oar liberties : 1. We conceive the patent (under 
God) to be the first and main foundation of our civil policy here, 
by a Governor and company, according as it is therein expressed ; 
2. The Governor and company are by the patent a body politique 
in fact and name ; 3. This body politique is vested with the power 
to make freemen, &c. ; 4. The freemen have power to choose 
annually a Governor, deputy governor, assistants, and their select 
representatives or deputies ; 5. This government hath also power 
to set up all sorts of officers, superior as well as inferior, and point 
out their power and places ; 6. The Governor, deputy governor, 
assistants, and select representatives or deputies, have full power 
and authority, both legislative and executive, for the government 
of all the people here, whether inhabitants or strangers, both 
concerning ecclesiastical and civil matters, ivithout appeals, ex- 
cepting law, or laws repugnant to those of England ; 7. This 
government is privileged by all fitting means (yea, if need be), by- 
force of arms to defend themselves both by land and sea, against 
all person, or persons, as shall at any time attempt or enterprise 
the destruction, invasion, detriment, or annoyance of the planta- 
tion or the inhabitants therein, besides other privileges mentioned 
in the patent, not here expressed ; 8. We consider any imposi- 
tion prejudicial to the country, contrary to any just law of ours 
(not repugnant to the laws of England) to be an infringement of 
our rights. 

II. Concerning our duties of allegiance to our sovereign Lord 
the King : 1. We ought to uphold, and to our power maintain 
the place, as of right belonging to our sovereign Lord the King, as 
holden of his Majesty's manor of East Greenwich, and not subject 
the same to any foreign prince or potentate whatsoever ; 2. We 
ought to endeavor the preservation of his Majesty's royal person, 
realms, and dominions, and so far as lieth in us to discover and 

E 



98 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

prevent all plots and conspiracies against the same, &c. ; 3. We 
ought to seek the peace and prosperity of our King and nation, by 
a faithful discharge in the governing of this people committed to 
our care." 

To which is added a clause, that the warrant for the appre- 
hension of Goffe and Whalley ought to have the support of the 
court, and that no shelter should be given to people legally 
obnoxious and flying from justice. This extraordinary document 
exhibits more briefly and distinctly their ideas of their own inde- 
pendence, and their own nominal allegiance to the crown, than 
the most labored treatise, and possesses the additional advantage 
of not being an inference from facts subject to be controverted, 
and open to the charge of prejudice, but a manifesto carefully 
weighed, deliberately adopted, and entered on record in the 
journals of the house. 

Here are distinctly shadowed out the three great doctrines on 
which their sovereignty rested. The first is a positive denial of 
the right of appeal ; the second, a declaration that acts of 
Parliament regulating their trade were unconstitutional ; and the 
third, an assertion of their peculiar privilege of managing their 
own internal affairs. These three principles, accompanied as 
they were with a distinct avowal of the legality of maintaining 
them by force of arms, comprise absolute independence. They 
are wholly irreconcilable with any thing like imperial control, and 
leave the king nothing but an empty title. It is, therefore, 
absurd to ascribe the origin of these pretensions to the revolution 
of 1783. They thus early asserted and contended for unmixed 
and uncontrollable republicanism. Nor was the demand either 
unnatural or inconsistent with their position or prejudices, and 
the circumstances of both Europe and America at the time. 
They had grown up in neglect, and self government was essential 
to their existence as a community. Having exercised it for a 
long period from necessity, they became enamored of it from use, 
and now demanded it as a right. According to these views, into 
which they had reasoned themselves, their connection with En- 
gland was purely voluntary. The only compact they had with 
its sovereign, they alleged, was to pay him a fifth of the gold and 
silver ore found in the soil, which they expressed their willingness 
"to do, whenever any should be discovered. On that condition, 
9-nd that their laws should not be repugnant to those of the 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 99 

parent country, they obtained the territory. But they said, if 
there were no charter, they still owed no obedience ; for the king, 
in fact, had no title himself by pretense of discovery, which was a 
mere popish doctrine derived from Alexander VI. ; and their own 
was far better, being founded on prior possession, actual and 
continued occupation and improvement, and purchase from the 
Indian chiefs. 

Had the habits of the monarch been at all equal to his abilities, 
and his means adequate to enforce his authority, it is probable he 
would have taken prompt and efficient measures to insure their 
submission. His sagacity penetrated their designs, but his indo- 
lence and indecision were unequal to a contest in which there 
was neither present emolument to reimburse the expense, nor an 
increase of royal power to add strength or dignity to the throne. 
He resorted to professions of regard, and was met by such 
extravagant hyperboles, as to excite the irrepressible laughter of 
the courtiers. He was less successful in negotiation. They were 
subtle disputants, and having overpowered their own judgment 
and strong intellects with casuistry, were easily able to vanquish 
his statesmen, whose minds were more occupied with their own 
intrigueis than the affairs of a distant and refractory colony. In 
the end, as we shall presently see, he resorted to a court of law, 
and partially effected his object. 

Complaints still continuing to be made of their want of tolera- 
tion, arbitrary conduct, and disaffection, the local government 
thought it necessary to send two agents to England, to endeavor 
to meet these charges in the best manner they could. These 
gentlemen accepted the trust with the greatest reluctance, and 
such was their apprehension relative to their own personal safety, 
that they first stipulated for reimbursement and indemnification 
from the consequences of their detention by the court. They 
were fortified with letters to Lord Saye and Sele, who had more 
Puritanism than was consistent with his character for good sense, 
and more sympathy with colonial independence than was com- 
patible with his duty to his sovereign. Lord Clarendon, Lord 
Manchester, Colonel Temple, and others were also solicited to aid 
and assist their envoys, who were finally dispatched with especial 
orders to obtain all they could, and to yield nothing. As the 
instructions are very brief, and exceedingly characteristic, I insert 
them. 



100 • THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

1. You shall present us to his Majesty as his loyal and obedient 
subjects, and not to be wanting to instance in the particulars 
which most and best render us so to be. 

2. You shall endeavor to take off all scandal and objections 
which are or shall be made against us. 

3. You shall endeavor the establishment of the rights and 
privileges we now enjoy, 

4. You shall not engage us, by any act of yours, to any thing 
which may be prejudicial to our present standing, according to 
patent. 

They met a favorable and, what appeared to them, a gracious 
reception from the king, who assured them he would confirm the 
main objects of their charter, but commanded them immediately 
to rectify several serious deviations from its spirit and meaning. 
On their return to their native country, his Majesty delivered 
to them a letter, addressed to the Government of Massachusetts, 
containing an amnesty for past offenses, but requiring that all 
their laws should be reviewed, and such as were contrary or 
derogatory to his authority and government should be annulled 
and repealed ; that the oath of allegiance should be duly observed, 
that the administration of justice should be in his name, that 
liberty should be given to all that desired, to use the Book of 
Common Prayer, and perform their devotions in the manner to 
which they had been accustomed ; that all persons of good and 
honest lives and conversations, should be admitted to the sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper, according to the service of the Church 
of England, and their children to baptism ; that in the choice of 
governor and assistants, the onl5f consideration to be had should 
be of the wisdom, virtue, and integrity of the persons to be chosen, 
and not of any faction, with reference to opinions and outward 
profession ; that all freeholders of competent estates, not vicious, 
&c., though of different persuasions, should have their votes in 
the election of all officers, civil and military ; and, finally, that 
the letter should be published, &y. 

However reasonable these things now appear, they were con- 
sidered at the time very detrimental to their rights, by a people 
who had hitherto tolerated no interference in their internal af- 
fairs. They deemed them subversive of their liberty on the one 
hand, and destructive of all true religion and good government 
on the other. When so many things, however, were ordered to 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 101 

be done, and so many innovations required, it was manifest some 
compliance was necessary, if only for the sake of preserving ap- 
pearances. The letter was accordingly published, which was the 
easiest to be complied with of all the injunctions it contained, 
but the order for its promulgation was accompanied, as usual, 
with a caution, that no further action was to be taken upon it 
for the present. " Inasmuch as it hath influence upon the 
churches, as well as civil state, all manner of action, in relation 
thereto, shall be suspended, until the next General Court, that so 
all persons concerned may have time and opportunity to consider 
of what is necessary to be done in order to his Majesty's pleasure 
therein." 

It was also ordered, that all writs and legal process should 
thereafter be issued in the name of the king. To admit it to 
appear in the judicial proceedings was unavoidable, but to enforce 
respect for it would be in itself an acknowledgement of a foreign 
power ; and the different submission required to local and impe- 
rial authority was forcibly illustrated by two contemporaneous 
suits. 

A person who had rendered himself obnoxious by petitioning 
against the colony, happening shortly afterward to be in court, 
was accused of discourteous conduct, fined £200 for his con- 
tempt, and ordered to find sureties in a like sum for his good be- 
havior; while a constable, who refused to publish the king's let- 
ter, and a select-man, who spoke disrespectfully of it, were both 
acquitted on an alleged deficiency of proof 

The determination to evade or delay, which had become a 
fixed rule of conduct on all occasions, exhausted the patience of 
the English government. Churchmen, both within and without 
Massachusetts, were loud in their complaints, that the colony 
was rendered intolerable to the one, and practically closed to the 
other ; while those who felt Aggrieved at the decisions of the 
court, expressed, in strong terms, the sense they entertained of 
the hardships they endured, in being debarred from a rehearing, 
and by having an appeal converted into an offense of a very seri- 
ous nature, that of slandering the Lord's elect. 

Among others who were aggrieved were the Quakers, who 
stated that their people had suffered incredible punishments and 
persecutions at the hands of the Puritans. Without entering into 
the heart-rending details of the cruelties practiced upon them, it 



102 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA 

is merely sufficient to state what enactments were made agamst 
them. One of the first imposed a penalty of £100 upon the mas- 
ter of any vessel who should bring a known Quaker into any port 
of the colony, and required him to give security to carry him 
back again ; in the mean time, the unfortunate man was sent to 
the house of correction, and whipped twenty stripes, and after- 
ward kept at hard labor, until transportation. They also laid a 
fine of £5 for importing, and the hke sum for dispersing, their 
doctrinal books, and for defending their heretical opinions. The 
next year, an additional law was made, by which all persons 
were subjected to the penalty of forty shillings for every hour's 
entertainment given to any known member of the sect ; and any 
Quaker, after the first conviction, if a man, was to lose one ear, 
and the second time, the other ; a woman, each time to be severe- 
ly whipped, and the third time, man or woman, to have their 
tongues bored through with a red-hot iron ; and every one who 
should become a convert in the colony was subjected to the like 
punishment. Afterward, a fine of ten shillings was laid on every 
person present at any of their meetings, and <£5 upon any one 
speaking there.* 

* That these poor zealots were superior to the gloomy bigots who persecuted 
them, appears from the following extract from W. Leddra's address to his 
brethren, written the day before his execution, which, considering the station 
of the man, and the circumstances under which it was written, is singularly 
beautiful : 

"Most deak and inwardly Beloved, 

"The sweet influence of the morning star, like a flood distilluig into my inno- 
cent habitation, hath so filled me with the joy of the Lord, in the beavity of holi- 
ness, that my spirit is as if it did not inhabit a tabernacle of clay, but is wholly 
swallowed up in the bosom of eternity, from whence it had its being. 

" Alas, alas ! what can the wealth and spirit of man that lusteth to envy, ag- 
gravated by the heat and strength of the king of the locusts, which came out of 
the pit, do unto one that is hid in the secret places of the Almighty, or to them 
that are gathered under the healing wings of the Prince of Peace ? O, my be- 
loved, I have waited as the Dove at the windows of the Ark, and have stood 
still in that watch, which the Master did at His coming reward with the full- 
ness of His love, wherein my heart did rejoice that I might speak a few words 
to you, sealed with the spirit of promise. As the flowing of the ocean doth fill 
every creek and branch thereof, and then returns again toward its own being 
and fullness, and leaves a savor behind it, so doth the life and virtue of God flow 
into every one of your hearts whom He hath made partakers of His divine na- 
ture, and when it withdraws but little, it leaves a sweet savor behind it, that 
many can say they are made clean, through the word that He hath spoken to 
them. Therefore, my dear hearts, let the enjoyment of the life alone be your 
hope, your joy, and your consolation. Stand in the watch within, in the fear of 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 103 

Notwithstanding all this severity, their number, as might well 
have been expected, increased rather than diminished. When 
brought up for judgment, one of them observed, " for the last man 
that was put to death here, are five come into his room ; and if 
you have power to take my life from me, God can raise up ten of 
His servants, and send them among you in my place, that you 
may have torment upon torment." 

All these tortures, imprisonments, corporal and other punish- 
ments were inflicted without remorse, and endured without pro- 
ducing any other efTect than feelings of horror or pity in the be- 
holder. Four of them suffered capitally. To the positive orders 
of the king that these dreadful barbarities should be discontinued 
(after having first satisfied themselves of their inefficiency), they 
yielded compliance, so far as mutilation and death were employed, 
and the persecution of vagabond Quakers dwindled down into 
mere whipping, with the merciful limitation attached to it, that 
the culprit should be only flogged through three towns. The 
Baptists who had also been treated with great severity, joined in 
the universal complaint against them. 

Finally the Lords of the Council, who were daily besought 
for relief by so many different interests, represented to the king, 
(January, 1662-3), " that New England hath in these late times 
of general disorder, strayed into many enormities, by which it ap- 
peared that the government there have purposely withdrawn all 
manner of correspondence, as if they intended to suspend their ab- 
solute dependence to his Majesty's authority." 

Not wishing to proceed to extremities with these intractable 
people, Charles resolved upon sending commissioners to report 
upon the actual state of the colonies ; and accordingly Colonel 
Nicholas, Sir Robert Carr, George Cartwright, and Samuel 
Maverick, were authorized to proceed to America, " to visit the 

the Lord, which is the entrance of wisdom. Confess Him before men; yea, be- 
fore His greatest enemies. Fear not what they can do to you. Greater is He 
that is in you, than he that is in the world ; for He will clothe you with humility 
and in the power of His meekness you shall reign over all the rage of your ene- 
mies." — Duval's History of (Quakers. 

Mary Dyer addressed from the jail a i-emonstrance to the Court : 
"Were ever such laws heard of among a people that profess Christ come in 
the flesh 1 Have you no other weapon but such laws to light against spiritual 
wickedness withal, as you call it ? Woe is me for you. Ye are disobedient 
and deceived. Let my request be as Esther's to Ahasuerus, 'You will not 
repent that you were kept from shedding blood, though it was by a woman.' " 



104 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

provinces of New England, hear and determine all causes of com- 
plaint, as well as appeals in matters mifitar)^, ecclesiastical, and 
civil, and to settle there peace and security." 

The instructions given them were of a kind well calculated (as 
far as such a proceeding was capable) to maintain no more than 
the due observance of the terms of the charter on the one hand, 
and the royal authority on the other. They were particularly 
charged to encourage no faction, to solicit no present profit, to 
countenance no change inconsistent with ancient usages, and to 
do nothing that might be considered an invasion of liberty of con- 
science. Finally, not to shock their religious scruples beyond all 
endurance, or to run the hazard of driving a people already high- 
ly excited, into irretrievable madness, they were commanded not 
to suffer their chaplain, when officiating for them, to wear his 
surplice. 

As these gentlemen were expected in Boston early in July, a 
day of fasting and prayer was appointed to be observed through- 
out the whole province, to implore the mercy of God upon his 
people under their sore trials and afflictions. As it was thought 
not impossible some attempt might be made by the Commissioners 
to seize upon their charter, it was ordered to be brought into 
court, when it was formally delivered, together with a duplicate, 
to four confidential persons, who were empowered and enjoined 
to deposit them in a place of safety and concealment. The Gov- 
ernor and Council then resolved " to bear true allegiance to his 
Majesty, but to adhere to a patent so dearly earned and so long 
enjoyed." A committee was also appointed, whose duty it was, 
immediately on the arrival of the ships, to present their respects 
to the board, and request that strict orders should be given to the 
subaltern officers, sailors, and soldiers, on their coming on shore 
for refreshment, to land only in very limited numbers, without 
arms, and that they should be admonished to conduct themsclve.s 
in a meet, orderly manner, and abstain from giving oilense to the 
inhabitants, or violating the laws for the preservation of the peace. 
Having taken these precautions, and mutually encouraged each 
other to exercise great coolness and deliberation, in any step it 
might be necessary to take in this trying emergency, they await- 
ed with patience the arrival of the formidable officers of the 
Crown. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Commissioners arrive at Boston — Deliver a Royal Letter to the Govern- 
ment, and proceed to the Hudson to attack the Dutch Settlements — The 
General Court in their Absence petition for their Withdrawal, and solicit the 
Aid of the Puritan Noblemen — Answers of the King and Lord Clarendon- 
General Effect of Commissions of Inquiry — The Franchise extended — The 
Clergy and Demagogues prepare the People for Resistance — False Rumors 
put into Circulation — General Court refuses to summon the People to assem- 
ble — Commissioners inquire whether they admit the King's Authority — They 
decline to answer, and refuse to attend before them, or to submit to an Ap- 
peal — They summon the Commissioners — Close of the Inquiry — Accidents to 
Commissioners reputed to be Judgments of Heaven— The King orders the 
Governor and other Members of the General Court to appear before him — 
They decline, affecting to doubt the Genuineness of the Order — Distinction 
taken between Obedience to beneficial and injurious Orders — The New En- 
gland Colonies renew their Confederation — Effect of it — Complaints of En- 
glish Merchants against the Infraction of the Laws of Trade — The Oath of Alle- 
giance ordered to be taken, and the King's Arms set up — Agents sent to En- 
gland, but ordered to yield Nothing — A Custom House Oflficer appointed- 
Opposition to him — He is obliged to return to England — General Court re- 
enacts Trade Laws — Its Members take modified official Oaths — Collector 
sent out agam, but they threaten to execute him — Is obliged to quit the 
Colony — General Gloom in Massachusetts — People terrified by Comets — The 
Credentials of Agents found deficient — They offer a Bribe of two thousand 
Guineas to the King — Agents return, and are followed by Randolph with the 
quo xoarranto — General Court refuses to surrender the Charter — Their Argu- 
ments — They again petition and pretend there has been no Service of the 
Writ — Judgment given against them — Remarks on their Conduct — Natural 
effects of Dissent. 

The Commissioners arrived at Boston on the 13th of July, 
1664, and having laid before the Governor and Council their let- 
ters patent, and called their attention to the last mandatory com- 
munication from his Majesty, proceeded to the Hudson, for the 
purpose of reducin;2; the Dutch settlements, that interposed so in- 
conveniently "between the English provinces. 

During their temporary absence, the Generat Court petitioned 
the king to revoke their authority, and once more besought the 
aid of all those influential persons in England, who, at one time 
or another had shown them any kindness. To the former they 
said, in their usual adulatory language, " As the high place you 
sustani on earth doth number you among the gods, so you will 
imitate the God of Heaven, in being ready to maintain the cause 

E* 



106 THE ENGLISH IN AaiElUCA 

of the afflicted, and the right of the poor, and to receive their cries 
and addresses to that end." The rest of the memorial was a 
lamentation, at once humble in language, and obstinate in pur- 
pose, filled with the most dutiful expressions of loyalty and obe- 
dience, but containing no pledge of fulfilling any one of the rea- 
sonable conditions, on which alone his Majesty had promised to 
confirm their patent. To~ their patrons and friends they repre- 
sented the commission as an attempt to destroy their privileges, 
to deprive them of liberty of conscience, and to impose burdens 
upon them that they were unable to bear. The king, who saw 
through their evasions, assured them that his object was, not to 
infringe upon their charter, but to see that its provisions were 
fully and fairly compUed with ; that their neighbors, the inhabit- 
tants, and the savages, as well as the emigrants, made accusations 
against them, into which it was his duty to inquire ; that they 
might rely upon the fullest protection and support that the best 
subjects ever received from the most generous Prince ; and final- 
ly, that he w^ould renew the patent for them, but must first insist 
on a full and free toleration for Churchmen and Dissenters, and 
a repeal of such laws as were repugnant to those of England. 

Lord Clarendon, who was one of the noblemen to whom they 
had addressed themselves, indignantly declined to be the medium 
of their double-dealing. 

" I know not what you mean," said his lordship, " by saying 
that the Commissioners have power to exercise government in- 
consistent with your rights and privileges, since I am sure their 
instructions are to see and provide for the due and full observa- 
tions of the charter, and that all the privileges granted by it may 
be equally enjoyed by all his Majesty's subjects there. I know 
they are expressly inhibited from intermeddling with, or obstruct- 
ing the administration of justice, according to the forms observed 
there ; but if, in truth, the proceedings have been irregular, and 
against the rules of justice (as in some particular cases, recom- 
mended to them by his Majesty, they seem to be), it can not be 
presumed that his majesty hath, or will leave his subjects of 
New England without hope of redress by an appeal to him, 
which his subjects of all his other kingdoms have free liberty to 
make. I can say no more to you, but that it is in your power to 
be very happy, and to enjoy all that hath been granted to you ; 
but it will be absolutely necessary, that you perform and pay all 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 107 

that reverence and obedience, which is due from subjects to their 
king, and which his Majesty will exact from you, and doubts not 
but to find from the best of the colony, both in quality and num- 
ber." 

Subsequent events but too plainly showed that both were 
wrong. There was too much hesitation and condescension on 
the part of the king, and too much dogged obstinacy on the side 
of the people. The whole tenor of the conduct of the colonists, 
from their first arrival in the country, afforded no reasonable 
ground for hoping for an accommodation. A commission of in- 
quiry, that does not in the first instance supersede the local gov- 
ernment, and assume the supreme command, is worse than use- 
less ; on the one hand, it is exposed to legalized obstructions, that 
it can not resist ; and on the other, it subverts that respect and 
obedience to constituted authority, which is so essential to the 
well-being of a community. 

This was the first time the General Court had ever come in 
direct conflict with the Crown. It was a difficult and trying 
occasion, but they proved themselves equal to the emergency. 
Their cautious conduct, temperate language, unflinching firm- 
ness, and grave demeanor, gave them a decided advantage over 
the Commissioners, who had neither the weight of character, the 
influence of talent, nor the amount of legal knowledge necessary 
for the successful discharge of their duties, while they were 
wholly destitute of the requisite means for enforcing their de- 
cisions.* 

They were equally forgetful of what was due to the high sta- 
tion they filled themselves, and to the rank and power of a local 
government, the choice of a free people. So far from having a 
proper consideration for the mortifying and humiliating position 
in which the General Court was placed, they seemed to regard 
nothing but the exercise of their own authority. 

The forbearance of the governor and his council, under their 

* Hutchinson (vol. i. p. 250) thus describes them: " Colonel Nichols, by his 
discreet behavior, gained the esteem of the people, and afterward, while he was 
Governor of New York, kept up friendly coiTespondence with the General Court 
of Massachusetts. Can- and Cartwright were men very unfit for such a trust, 
and by their violent proceedings rendered themselves odious. Maverick seems 
to have been appointed only* to increase the number, and to be subservient to 
others. He had lived in the colony from its beginning. He was always in op- 
position to the authority." 



108 THE ENGLISH IN AMEKIC^. 

emban-assments, was more than could have been expected from 
men who had persuaded themselves they v/ere rather sinned 
against than sinning. Though indignant at being summoned in 
the presence of their constituents, to answer to every complaint 
that could be solicited against them; and degraded by being put 
upon their trial before incompetent, if not prejudiced judges, they 
nevertheless maintained, with the utmost command of temper, 
what they affected to call their chartered rights ; asserting their 
territorial supremacy, without recrimination on the one hand, or 
an open and seditious denial of royal authority, on the other. 
This line of conduct they steadily pursued, as long as it was pos- 
sible to do so, or until submission or resistance became inevitable. 

Whatever wisdom or experience may be gathered from the 
pages of history in general, it is certain that the annals of the old 
provinces, so rich in instruction, have imparted but little knowl- 
edge to those in England, in whose hands are intrusted colonial 
destinies. This commission, as we shall see, was a wretched 
failure, as every successive one has been, down to that recently 
sent to Canada. They are necessarily productive of infinite mis- 
chief; they lower the respect of the Provincials for the imperial 
Government, induce hasty and inconsiderate legislation, based on 
reports that are alike distinguished for their incongruity, imprac- 
ticability, and disingenuousness ; but, above all, they disgust by 
their reckless attacks (in which they make liberal use of the 
senseless epithets, "cliques," "family compacts," "obstructives," 
and "bigoted Tories") on the loyal gentry of the colonies, who 
are as superior to those erratic politicians in ability and practical 
information, as they are in integrity of conduct and consistency 
of character. 

The General Court assembled on the 4th of August, when 
they resolved : " That they would bear faithful and true allegi- 
ance to his Majesty, and adhere to their patent so dearly obtained 
and so long enjoyed by undoubted right, in the sight of God and 
man." They then repealed the law relating to the admission of 
freemen, and, instead of it, provided another, that allowed En- 
glish subjects, being freeholders, ratable to a certain value, certi- 
jied hy the minister of the place to be orthodox, and not vicious 
in their lives, to be made freemen, though not members of their 
Church. 

In the mean time, the clergy and the demagogues prepared the 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 109 

people for resistance ; the former, by haranguing in their pulpits ; 
the latter in their town meetings. As the whole population was 
constrained to attend public worship on Sundays, one day was 
sufficient to disseminate sedition through a country predisposed to 
receive it. Assembling for parish business, afforded favorable 
opportunities for the inhabitants to discuss what they had heard 
in their conventicles. The most alarming rumors were artfully 
put in circulation. It was said that Prelacy was to be estab- 
lished, and tithes set apart for the Episcopal clergy : that disso- 
lute soldiers were to be quartered upon the elect, and £5000 
a year raised for the civil-list of the king, beside a tax of twelve- 
pence per acre ; while offices, without number, were to be cre- 
ated for hungry courtiers. The louder, more inflammatory, and 
bolder, were the harangues of their orators, the more acceptable 
they became ; and nothing was heard through the whole prov- 
ince but tyranny and patriotism, liberty and slavery, victory or 
death. 

The desired effect was immediately produced. Whoever asso- 
ciated with the Royal Commissioners became the objects of pop- 
ular ridicule or insult. They were afraid to appeal, lest they 
should incur the vengeance of their offended countrymen. They 
were told, if they acknowledged the authority of the Board, 
"they would pull down with their own hands the house which 
wisdom had built for them and their posterity." 

The Commissioners, desirous of removing the unfavorable im- 
pressions raised against them by these slanders, requested that 
the people might be convened together to hear their commands ; 
but the Court, with their usual caution and evasion, dreading 
the effect of the interview on the firmness of the yeomanry, no 
less than the precedent of their obeying any one but themselves, 
replied that they had no objection whatever to their assembling, 
if they thought proper to do so ; for they were free agents, and 
could do as they saw fit on this or any other occasion. They 
professed, however, their inability to understand how such a gen- 
eral meeting could in any way further the object of their inquiry, 
as the people were well-informed of all that had taken place, and 
were faithfully represented by their delegates, who were empow- 
ered to act and to speak in their behalf 

Entertaining this view, they said they did not feel justified in 
commanding their attendance, especially as the season was such 



no THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

as to require the utmost exertion of every one, when labor was so 
scarce and expensive ; and, what was an awful consideration, it 
would expose the aged and infirm, and the women and children, 
of every frontier settlement to the fury of the savages, who would 
doubtless seize the opportunity of wreaking their vengeance by 
an indiscriminate slaughter of them all. For this reply, which 
was better calculated to excite ridicule than indignation, they 
were very coarsely stigmatized by one of the Commissioners as 
traitors. They then sent notices themselves, to be posted up in 
different parts of the colony, requesting the inhabitants to meet 
them, for the purpose of hearing the king's gracious letters, and 
learning the true object and design of their mission ; but they 
were too much irritated with what they had been told, to pay 
any attention to them. 

It is not my intention to enter into any detailed account of the 
controversy between these functionaries and the local government, 
as it would not only not interest the general reader, but would 
withdraw our attention from the main object of the work. The 
Court affected to feel and lament the painful dilemma in which 
they were placed ; to submit, they conceived would be to strip 
themselves of all their rights ; to refuse compliance, seemed to be 
attended with odium, and the danger of being considered in the 
light of rebels. They said, "they esteemed it their greatest un- 
happiness to be held to give up their privileges by charter, and 
the rights of Englishmen, or else be accounted among such as 
denied his Majesty's authority." All their replies, therefore, were 
worded in such general terms, and expressed in such cautious 
language, that the Commissioners, after much correspondence, 
and conferences without number, found, to their infinite mortifica- 
tion, that, during the whole period of their residence in the 
country, they had been traveling in a circle, and had arrived at 
last at the same point from whence they had started, not much 
enlightened by their vexatious and laborious tour. Loss of time 
and labor generally produces a corresponding effect on the temper. 
Irritated at last by the evasions or refusals of the Court, they 
submitted to them the following question : " Do you acknowledge 
the patent, wherein we are appointed, to be of full force to all 
the purposes therein contained ?" To this form of interrogation 
the governor and his council objected, saying they chose rather to 
plead their charter, and the king's special charge, that they should 



THE ENGLISH IN AxMERICA 111 

not be disturbed in its enjoyment. This being deemed wholly 
unsatisfactory, they were again called upon for a categorical 
answer ; but they declared it " was enough for them to give their 
sense of the rights granted to them, and that it was beyond their 
Ihie to determine the power, extent, and purpose of his Majesty's 
Commission." Baffled in their attempt to draw them into an 
admission, so fatal to their defense, or into a contumacious denial 
of the royal authority, they determined to apply to them a most 
stringent test, by bringing them to their bar, as a court of appeal. 
They accordingly summoned them to appear before them, to 
answer to a complaint of a person against whom they had some 
time before pronounced judgment. But they protested against 
this assumption of power, so inconsistent with their charter, and 
refused to attend. At the time appointed, a herald sounded his 
trumpet, and read a proclamation, which, after a long recital of 
their own forbearance during the protracted visit of the Commis- 
sioners, and the repeated and frequent invasions they made upon 
their rights, declared, in his Majesty's name, and by the au- 
thority committed to them by their patent, tbat they could not 
consent to their proceedings, and that it was utterly inconsistent 
with their allegiance to suffer any persons so to contravene th« 
king's instructions. 

After this they informed the Board of their earnest desire to 
give them every satisfaction in their power, and notified them 
that they should forthwith proceed to hear the cause themselves, 
and desired them to appear and produce their allegations, to 
which every attention should be paid. 

This unexpected turn of affairs brought the commission to 
a close in Massachusetts ; and the officers composing it, after 
protesting against the General Court taking cognizance of a 
matter in which they were directly interested, informed them 
that they should lose no time in such an undignified contest. 
They were doomed, however, to suffer still further mortification. 
They had been in the habit, during their residence at Boston, of 
entertaining a social party of friends, on Saturday evening, at the 
hotel where they lodged. This, it appears, was contrary to a 
local law, which required a strict observance of the afternoon of 
that day, as a portion of the Sabbath. A constable, intruded 
into their room, ordered them, iti the Jdn^'s name, to disperse, 
which caused his immediate ejection from the house. Thinking 



112 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

that the insult was an intentional one, premeditated and sug- 
gested by the magistrates, and fearing a repetition of the outrage, 
they adjourned to the house of a friend, where they were again 
visited by another bailiff, who, after admonishing them to mend 
their manners, observed, it was fortunate they had not had him 
to deal with, as he would assuredly have arrested them all. 
" What," said one of the Commissioners, " would you have pre- 
sumed to lay hands on the king's officers ?" " Certainly," was 
the reply of the democratic and sanctimonious constable, " I would 
seize the king himself if he were here." Not knowing where 
this conduct might end, they left Massachusetts on a tour to the 
other New England colonies, in which they experienced much 
difficulty, though more obedience and courtesy than at Boston. 

Like all commissioners of inquiry that have ever been sent to 
America, they deemed it requisite to prove the necessity of their 
appointment, by encouraging and graciously receiving complaints 
against the local government. That the charter, which was 
never designed as a constitution, was too undefined in its terms, 
and too restricted in its practical operation, and that many 
beneficial reforms were required, was beyond all doubt ; but it 
was equally obvious that respect was due to the station and 
character of the governor and court of assistants, to the feelings 
of people of influence and rank in the colony, and to the ministers 
of the great body of the population. Mankind are sufficiently 
prone to disobedience to their superiors ; but when the organs of 
imperial authority lend their countenance and afford encourage- 
ment to the disaffected, every land, whether it be the barren soil 
of New England, or the fertile region of Canada, will bear a 
plentiful harvest of falsehood, misrepresentation, and discontent. 

One of the Commissioners was captured by the Dutch, on his 
return to England, and lost all his papers, and another died the 
day he landed in Bristol ; two acidents, which were seized upon 
by the ministers, with their usual propensity for the marvelous, 
and declared to be the just judgments of God upon those who 
had sought to injure the Lord's elect. Such a signal interposi- 
tion of Providence raised the drooping spirits of those who doubted 
the propriety of the conduct pursued by the General Court, and 
confirmed the obstinacy and increased the spirit of resistance in 
the magistrates and people. The official narrative, however, of 
their proceedings reached England in safety ; and, as might have 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 113 

been expected from the treatment they had received, was very 
unfavorable. It disclosed very plainly,* how systematically the 
Provincials had always pursued their darling object, self-govern- 
ment, from their first settlement to the period of the rebellion in 
England, when they besought Cromwell to bestow absolute inde- 
pendence upon them, and from thence to the arrival of the Board, 
whose authority they eluded or denied, calling themselves a state, 
a commonwealth, and a people, in contradistinction to a colony 
and subjects. 

As soon as the result of their mission was known, it occasioned 
great indignation. A letter addressed in the name, and by the 
order of the king, and countersigned by Secretary Maurice, was 
dispatched to Boston without delay, commanding on their allegi- 
ance Mr. Bellingham, the Governor, and Mr. Hawthorne, the 
Speaker, together with three others, to be chosen by the General 
Court, to proceed ibrthwith to London, to answer the various 
charges which from time to time had accumulated against them. 
The peremptory tone of the order required their immediate and 
serious attention. The Legislature was convened, and six elders 
successively prayed for a blessing on their deliberations, and the 
discovery of some practicable mode of escape from their troubles. 

They were indebted to their ingenuity, for what no one else 
but themselves would have attributed to their supplications. A 
slight deviation from the truth effectually answered their purpose. 
They affected to doubt the authenticity of the letter, as they were 
not familiar with the signature of the officer by whom it M'as 
signed, and pronounced it a forgery. They therefore agreed upon 
an answer, in which the genuineness of the royal mandate was 
questioned, and excused themselves for sending over agents, 
especially as they said the ablest among them could not declare 
their cause more fully than it had been done already. An ab- 
stract of the debate on this occasion has been preserved,! and 
exhibits in strong colors their determined purpose to resist the 
right of supervision or appeal. A very curious and subtle dis- 
tinction was taken between such commands of the king's as were 
beneficial to them, and such as were not.| It was argued that 
the civil magistrate was a minister of God for the good of the 

* See "Hutchinson's History of the Colonies," vol. iii. p. 412. 
t See the Danforth Papers in vol. xix. Massachusetts Hist. Col. 
t See Cobbet's letter in note to Hutchinson's History, vol. i. p. 253. 



114 THE Ei\GLISH IN AMERICA. 

people, and so far as his injunctions tended to their advantage, 
ought to be obeyed for conscience sake, but none would say it was 
for the benefit of a colony to send away its rulers ! 

In the mean time the confederation of Massachusetts, Connecti- 
cut, and Plymouth, was again renewed by commissioners from 
the respective provinces, who entered into an ofTensive and defens- 
ive alliance. This convention increased the confidence of the 
people in their own strength, by giving unity to their designs, and 
vigor to their conduct. When assembled, they represented a very 
extensive country, and a large population, and naturally encour- 
aged each other in struggling for independence, which was their 
motive for settling in America, and the inheritance they hoped 
to leave to their children. 

A new interest, however, had now sprung up in England, 
adverse to the pretensions of the colonists, that enlisted the people 
on the side of the king, which it was easy to fortell would soon 
overpower them. The commerce of the American provinces, as 
we have seen, had already been regulated and restrained by Parlia- 
ment. It was now considered a proper object for taxation. 
Duties were laid upon certain enumerated articles, which were 
to be collected in a new manner. The management of this 
branch of revenue was committed to local officers, to be appointed 
by the commissioners of the customs in England. The duties of 
tonnage and poundage had been extended to every dominion of 
the Crown at the Restoration, but this was the first act which 
imposed imposts on the colonies alone (1662), to be regularly 
collected by provincial revenue officers. The former acts had 
not only been evaded, but openly disregarded by the people of 
Boston ; and the English merchants complained that they traded 
directly to various ports in Europe, and invited foreigners to visit 
them; that they supplied the adjoining plantations with the 
productions of other nations, which ought to be sent to Great 
Britain alone ; that, having thus made Massachusetts the great 
emporium for America, the commerce of the kingdom was great- 
ly prejudiced, the national resources impaired, and the people im- 
poverished. They also added, that such abuses would at once 
destroy the trade of England, and effectually relieve the colonies 
from any sort of dependence on the parent country. The interest 
at stake was too vast and too important to be trifled with. The 
governors were therefore commanded, by royal authority, to enforce 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 115 

a strict obedience to the laws of trade. Commissions were trans- 
mitted, empowering proper persons to administer an oath, framed 
to secure tlieir strict observance. To add weight to these meas- 
ures, it was determined " that no Mediterranean passes should be 
granted to New England, to protect its vessels against the Turks, 
till it should be seen what dependence it would acknowledge on 
his Majesty, or whether his custom-house officers should be re- 
ceived as in other colonies." 

In order to counteract the effects of the unfavorable report of 
the Commissioners, and to allay the irritation arising from so 
many grievous complaints, it was deemed advisable by the Gene- 
ral Court spontaneously to make some concessions, which, if they 
did not wholly answer their avowed purpose, would at least en- 
able them to procrastinate awhile longer, and retain the advant- 
age that might be offered by time or opportunity. They there- 
fore passed an act to punish high treason with death, and another 
requiring all persons above sixteen years of age to take the oath 
of allegiance, on pain of fine and imprisonment; the governor, 
his deputy, and the magistrates, having first taken the same, 
without reservation, in the words* sent them in the royal mandate. 
The king's arms were also ordered to be carved and put up in 
the Court-house. Randolph, who had suffered imprisonment 
with Sir Edmund Andross, and had never forgotten or forgiven 
the injuries then received, had carried to England very exagger- 
ated accounts of the wealth and population of Massachusetts, and 
now returned empowered to administer to the New England 
governor an oath to enforce the acts of trade. In Massachusetts 
it was peremptorily refused, on the ground that no such oath 
was required by the charter. They, however, enacted one of their 
own on the subject, and voted a present to the king of some cran- 
berries, a S2:)ecial good samj:)., as they were designated, and also 
some cod-fish, cured after the manner of the country. 

They were again admonished by his Majesty, who appears to 
have treated them with great consideration, to send agents to 

* The form of the oath, as previously existing, is one of the most evasive and 
loose ever constructed. It is in the following words: "Whereas I, A. B., am 
an inhabitant within this jurisdiction, considering how I stand obliged to the 
King's Majesty, his heirs and successors, by our charter and the government 
established thereby, &c., swear, by the great and dreadful name of the everlast- 
ing God, that 1 will bear faith and true allegiance to our sovereign Lord the 
King, his heirs and successors. So help me God." 



116 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

England, with full power to answer for them, and, in the mean 
time, required their immediate compliance with the several in- 
junctions contained in the previous mandate. Having so often 
found safety in delay, they persevered in this system of procrasti- 
nation, alleging as an excuse, the dangers of the sea, the agent 
for Connecticut having been recently captured by the Algerines, 
and the heavy debt of the colony, which made it almost incapa- 
ble of the expense. At last, however, the orders were repeated, 
in such a peremptory manner, that compliance could no longer be 
deferred, and they were accordingly appointed, but strictly com- 
manded not to do or consent to any thing that should violate or 
infringe the liberties and privileges granted by the charter, or the 
government established by its authority. 

It was difficult to submit to the laws of trade on two grounds : 
first, they interfered with the growth and prosperity of Boston ; 
and secondly, being acts of a foreign power, they could not well 
be acknowledged without admitting the authority that made 
them. The king, finding that nothing effectual v»^as done to 
suppress these irregularities, deemed it necessary to send over a 
custom-house officer with a suitable commission for executing his 
important and delicate task. He was furnished with letters both 
mandatory and introductory to the local government, and influ- 
ential inhabitants, to support, aid, and countenance him in his 
office. It required a man of no ordinary nerve to attempt to 
carry out such instructions, in defiance of a whole community. 
Such a person, however, was Randolph, who was selected for the 
purpose. 

Against this appointment the Lords of the Committee of Col- 
onies very properly remonstrated. They reported to his Majesty, 
" that no good was to be expected from the single endeavor of 
one man, till by a general reformation of abuses. New England 
is reduced to such dependence as is yielded by the other col- 
onies." 

They also suggested that the only effectual remedy, " was a 
governor wholly supported by the king." The wisdom of this 
recommendation is evinced by the whole subsequent history of 
the British possessions in America. Had it been acted upon, it 
would have saved innumerable disputes and embarrassments ; 
but like all the advice offered to that monarch, it was received, 
approved, and forgotten. 



THE EiNGLISH IN AMERICA. 117 

As soon as Pvandolph landed, he was regarded as a spy and an 
enemy, and was not only received with coldness, but encountered 
obstruction and insult, both from the government and the people. 
He was not altogether unprepared for the result, for he had pre- 
viously been informed by the governor, Mr. Leverett, in plain 
language, that he did not acknowledge the authority of Parlia- 
ment. 

"I called his attention," says the collector in his report, "to 
the fact that several vessels had arrived from Spain, France, 
Straights, Canaries, and other parts of Europe ; contrary to his 
Majesty's laws for encouraging navigation, and regulating the 
trade of the plantations. He freely declared to me, that the 
laws made by your Majesty and your Parhament oblige them in 
nothing, but what consists with the interest of that colony ; that 
the legislative power is, and abides in them solely to act and 
make laws by virtue of the charter ; that all matters in differ- 
ence are to be conducted by their final determination without 
appeal, and that you ought not to retrench their liberties, but 
may enlarge them if you please ; and said that your Majesty 
could do no less than let them enjoy their rights and trade, they 
having upon their own charge, and without any contribution 
from the Crown, made so large a plantation in the wilderness." 

In addition to the odium resulting from enforcing laws so re- 
pugnant to the prejudices and interests of the people, Randolph 
was also received with great dislike as an Episcopalian, a corre- 
spondent of the Bishop of London, and the avowed advocate for 
the settlement of a clergyman of the Established Church in Bos- 
ton. No Englishman was ever hated and dreaded as much as 
Randolph (whom they called their evil genius), for he was reso- 
lute, persevering, well-informed, and devoted to the cause of the 
king, and what he esteemed to be the rights of England.* But 
what can one man do when the governor, the council, the as- 
sembly, the judges, the jury, and the mob, are all opposed to 
him, his office, and his claims ? Pie returned to London to ex- 
hibit another instance in his own person of the utter inutility of 
attempting to enforce obedience in a colony, that is virtually 
independent, without a total alteration in the structure of its 
government, or the aid of a military force. His personal and 

* He made eight voyages to England in nine years. 



118 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

official influence was such, that to anticipate his complaints they 
voluntarily made some partial concessions. They passed an act, 
giving authenticity and efficacy to many of the navigation laws, 
thereby adopting them as their own, in preference to admitting 
their validity. The governor took the oath of office extracted 
from the English statutes, and rendered necessary by their own. 
They modified their Jewish code of jurisprudence, and enrolled 
the commission of the obnoxious officer. 

These compliances induced his Majesty to try them a little 
longer, and the collector was sent out, contrary to his own opin- 
ion, to make another attempt to discharge his duty, and found, 
as he expected, that, notwithstanding all their professions, their 
conduct and their principles were unchanged. Immediately on 
his arrival, he addressed a letter to the governor, demanding the 
final resolution of the court, whether it would admit his commis- 
sion to be in force or not, that he might know how to deport him- 
self. Of this communication they took no notice whatever, under 
the impression that a reply might hereafter rise up in judgment 
against them ; but they thought that an exhibition of contempt 
for him and his embarrassments was quite compatible with pru- 
dence, for it must be felt to be appreciated, and is incapable of 
description. They maintained silence, however, no longer than 
was necessary to avoid committing themselves. He was soon 
given to understand what he had to expect at their hands. 
Finding he could obtain no reply, he set up a notice on the town- 
house, informing the public of his commission as collector of cus- 
toms, that he had opened an office for that purpose, and required 
all persons interested to comply with the prescribed forms. The 
court immediately ordered the marshal to remove the presump- 
tuous advertisement, and adopted other measuses that effectually 
defeated all his attempts to exercise his delegated authority. If 
he prosecuted for a penalty, he was compelled to lodge caution- 
money to respond the costs ; and if it came to trial, he either lost 
his cause and his deposit, or the penalty was claimed by the local 
government. 

Every body was against him. Strange rumors reached him 
that were not to be disregarded. His life was threatened. He 
knew his men ; he felt that they were capable of any acts of 
violence, when they thought their rights infringed, and that their 
penal laws were neither obsolete nor dormant, but executed with 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 119 

a vigor and severity wholly unrestrained by considerations of 
mercy, or fear of consequences. He was given to understand, if 
he persevered in seizing vessels, and embarrassing their trade, he 
should be apprehended, tried, convicted, and executed, under a 
local statute, that made any attempt to subvert their chartered 
liberties a capital offense. He was, therefore; under the neces- 
sity of once more withdrawing to England, where he exhibited 
seven formal articles of high misdemeanors against the General 
Court. They were brief, perspicuous, and capable of proof, and 
carried conviction on the face of them. The king's patience was 
exhausted ; he threatened them, if they did not immediately send 
agents duly authorized to act and submit to them, a quo war- 
ranto should issue immediately. It was not now the complaint 
of Randolph alone that they had to answer, but the remon- 
strances of the whole mercantile and manufacturing interests of 
the kingdom. The just displeasure of an offended monarch, and 
the well-founded fears of English statesmen that America was 
aiming at independence, required the exercise of all their ingenu- 
ity and address. Two delegates were sent to England, commis- 
sioned, as usual, " to avoid or delay," to obtain what they could, 
but to make no concessions. 

It was a time of general gloom in the colony. The king's 
power was increasing in England. He was carrying on a suc- 
cessful war against charters : even London had lost hers, and how 
could they suppose they were to escape ? Every thing seemed to 
conspire against them. They were at last somewhat divided in 
opinion among themselves, whether it would not be better to 
yield ; and their unity, in which had consisted their strength, 
was shaken. Could it be a judgment from Heaven upon them 
for their offenses? Could their recent toleration of sectaries have 
drawn down on their heads judicial punishment ? They were 
the chosen people of the Lord. In giving way to the wishes of 
a prelatic king, by adopting human laws instead of those of 
Moses, which they had lately so impiously repealed, it was pos- 
sible that disobedience might have deserved and received chas- 
tisement. 

Something very remarkable, it was generally believed, was 
about to take place, for the air was filled with strange sounds, 
and the darkness illuminated with wondrous lights. Two enor- 
mous comets had traversed the heavens, and carried terror into 



120 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

every heart, as they were the sure and certain forerunners of 
calamities to fallen, sinful man. Two of the largest fires ever 
then known in North America, had nearly consumed Boston ; 
the first destroying forty-five houses, beside numerous large stores, 
and, what showed the Divine vengeance of the devouring flame 
more than all, a meeting-house; the second burning up more 
than eighty dwellings and seventy warehouses, with several ves- 
sels and their cargoes. 

A synod was called of all the clergy in Massachusetts. It 
was an unusual occasion, and the prayers of the whole body were 
needed. The preachers proved, to the entire satisfaction of the 
people, that they could expect no blessing if they continued to 
allow the Lord's heritage to be invaded by prelacy and dissent, 
or relinquish the privileges of His elect. The drooping spirits of 
the people revived, and they expressed their determination to 
stand or fall by their charter, and to make no surrender. 

On the arrival of the agents in England, it was found that 
their instructions did not contain sufficient authority to enable 
them to treat on behalf of the colony. They were ordered to 
procure more comprehensive powers, but the General Court re- 
fused to enlarge them. Their mi sion was thus brought to a 
close, and a quo ivarranto issued in the usual form, for the pur- 
pose of putting an end to the charter. 

Hitherto, the local government had depended upon their allies, 
the Liberals. The connection had always been one of conven- 
ience rather than regard, for they mutually despised each other. 
The Provincials coalesced with that party, because they had a 
more republican tendency than the Tories, and courted the sup- 
port of the enemies of the Church ; but they loathed their profli- 
gacy, their disregard of all principle, and their readiness to sacri- 
fice patriotism for place, and consistency for the emoluments of 
office. On the other hand, the Liberals knew the importance of 
so large and influential a body as the Sectarians, and were well 
skilled in inflaming their passions, pandering to their prejudices, 
and rendering their discontent and their union subservient to their 
own schemes of ambition. But while they used them, they ridi- 
culed them ; and their ignorant zeal, hypocritical pretensions, and 
extravagant language of cant, aflbrded them inexhaustible sub- 
jects for satire. It was an age when the leaders of the two ex- 
tremes of sanctimonious and dissolute modes found their greatest 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA 121 

safety in embracing each other. Knowing that the Liberals 
were always venal, and having succeeded in seducing the clerks 
of the public offices (if there can be seduction where there is no 
virtue), and kept them on pay to betray their trusts, they were 
always constantly and accurately informed of the secrets of State, 
and furnished with copies of all Minutes of Council, memorials, 
or complaints, affecting their interests, as v/ell as the names of 
those members that voted for or against them. 

They now conceived the plan of concentrating their gratuities 
and tempting the cupidity of the king, and most unblushingly 
offered him a bribe of two thousand guineas.* His thoughtless 
dissipation, lavish profusion, and unquenchable thirst for means 
to gratify his extravagant habits, were well calculated to lower 
himself and his monarchy to the level of republicans. The agents 
did not underrate his honor, but they overvalued their own dex- 
terity. Had it been delicately managed — for he was fastidious 
in his appetites — it is to be feared he would have had as little 
virtue to resist, as they had honesty to offer the temptation ; but 
the coarseness of the execution, if possible, surpassed the baseness 
of the design, and it failed of success as much on account of its 
grossness, as its immorality. 

It was a great mortification to both. The king concealed his 

* The proofs of these charges are abundant. The following will suffice : 

"From the Clerks of the Privy Council, who were retained on treacherous 
pay, they procured the strictest information, and even the State papers. Per- 
fectly acquainted by this means with Eluropean affairs, the ruling men at Bos- 
ton were able to draw every advantage from distractions, either to act with 
moderation or firmness." — Chlm. Col. vol. i. p. 129. [Chelmus held the impor- 
tant office of Head Clerk to the Committee of the Privy Council, and is therefore 
good authority]. 

'Having long corrupted his servants, they now attempted to bribe himself by 
an offer of two thousand guineas." — Chlm. Col. vol. i. p. 133. " Massachusetts 
was willing to bribe the Monarch into clemency toward its liberties." — Ban. 
Hist. vol. II. p. 123. " Cranfield advised tendering two thousand guineas for the 
king's pi'ivate service. The Court agreed to the proposal, and showed him the 
letter they had written to their agent thereon." — Hutch. Hist. vol. i. p. 337. 

" Major Thompson would make better use of your funds for your advantage. 
His employment in the East India Company gives him frequent access to Court, 
where he hath opportunity to give a feeling to such classes of the Council as 
may serve you with true intelligence. They have been there two years raising 
money upon the poor inhabitants to make friends at Court. Certainly they have 
some there too nigh the Council Chamber, otherwise they could not have copies 
of my petition against the Government, my articles of high misdemeanors, and 
now of Cranfield's instructions." — Letter of Randolph to Clarendon, June lUh, 
1682. 

F 



122 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

chagrin under a well-turned point. He said the Puritans were 
unrelenting foes, they had deprived his sainted father of his life, 
and now they would rob him of what he prized more highly, his 
honor. The agents were covered with shame, and were pointed 
at wherever they went as hypocrites, who had the depravity of 
courtiers, without their practical adroitness, or polished manner to 
conceal it.* They returned as soon as possible to Boston from 
their fruitless mission, and arrived on the 23d of October, and the 
same week were followed by the indefatigable Randolph, with 
the quo tvarranto. 

At the same time his Majesty made one effort more to bring thib 
protracted contest to an end, and condescended again to entreat 
them to submit, promising at the same time to make as few alter- 
ations in their patent as possible, consistently with the support of a 
royal government. In this desperate situation the question was de- 
bated, both in the General Court, and among the inhabitants at 
large, whether it M^ere better to make ample submission to the king, 
or suffer matters to take their course. The Government, however, 
and the people, true to the principles they had ever professed, de- 
termined it was better to die by the hands of others, than to com- 
mit a suicidal act themselves, by surrendering a charter, under 
which they had, for a period of fifty years, enjoyed internal and 
external independence. The General Court assembled and de- 
bated the subject for a fortnight. The upper branch was divided 
in opinion, but moderate counsels prevailed, and the majority 
passed a resolution not to contend with his Majesty at law, but 
rather throw themselves on his mercy, and to send agents to re- 
ceive the royal commands. This vote was sent to the Chamber 
of Deputies, according to the usual form, for their concurrence.! 

* Traly, sir, if you could see how we are ridiculed by our best friends at Court, 
it would grieve you. — Dudley's Letter to Bradstrcet, February, 1682. 

t The vote was as follows : " The magistrates have voted that an humble ad- 
dress be sent to his Majesty by this ship, declaring that, upon a serious consid- 
eration of his Majesty's gracious intimations, in his former letters, and more par- 
ticularly in his late declaration, that his pleasure and purpose is only to regulate 
our charter in such a manner as shall be for his service, and the good of this his 
colony, and without any other alteration than what is necessary for the support 
of his government here; v^e will not presume to contend with his Majesty in 
a court of law, but humbly lay ourselves at his Majesty's feet, in a submission 
to his pleasure so declared, and that we have resolved by the next opportunity 
to send our agents, empowered to receive his Majesty's commands accordingly. 
And, for saving a default of non-appearance upon the return of the writ of qvo 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 123 

The clergy took the alarm and efiectually prevented its passage 
through the lower house. It was the last time they were ever 
able to exert the same influence.* 

The arguments on this occasion (though not in the shape of 
modern reports) are preserved in the valuable and interesting 
collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society : the substance 
I find elsewhere thus condensed. Ought the government of 
Massachusetts (thus it was argued) submit to the pleasure of the 
Court, as to alteration of their charter ? Submission would be an 
ofTense against the Majesty of Heaven. The religion of the peojole 
of New England, and the Coiirfs pleasure can not consist to- 
gether. By submission Massachusetts will gain nothing. The 
Court designs an essential alteration, destructive to the vitals of 
the charter. The corporations in England that have made an 
entire resignation, have no advantage over those who have stood 
a suit in law. But if we maintain a suit, though we should be 
condemned, we may bring the matter to Chancery or to Parlia- 
ment, and in time recover all again. We ought not to act con- 
trary to that way in which God hath owned our worthy prede- 
cessors, who in 1638, when there was a quo warranto against 
the charter durst not submit. In 1664 they did not submit to 
the Commissioners. We, their successors, should walk in their 
steps, and so trust in the God of our fathers, that we shall see 
His salvation. Submission would gratify our adversaries, and 
grieve our friends. Our enemies know that it will sound ill in 
the world, for them to take av/ay the liberties of a poor people of 
God in a wilderness. A resignation will bring slavery upon us 
sooner than it otherwise would be, and will grieve our friends in 
other colonies, whose eyes are now upon New England, expecting 
that the people there will not through fear give a pernicious ex- 
ample unto others. Blind obedience to the pleasure of the Court, 
can not be without great sin, and incurring the high displeasure 
of the King of Kings ; submission would be contrary unto that 

warranto, that some meet person or persons be appointed and empowered, by- 
letter of attorney, to appear and make a defense, until our agents may make 
their appearance and submission as above. The magistrates have passed this 
with reference to the consent of their brethren and the deputies hereto. 

" Edward Rawson, Secretary:' 
* " The clergy turned the scale for the last time. The balance which they 
had held from the beginning, they were allowed to retain no longer." — Hutchin- 



124 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

which has been the unanimous advice of the ministers, given after 
a solemn day of prayer. The ministers of God in New England 
have more of the spirit of John the Baptist in them, than now, 
when a storm hath overtaken them, to he reeds shaken with the 
wind. The Priests were to be the first that set their feet in the 
waters, and there to stand till the danger be past ; of all men 
they should be an example to the Lord's people of faith, courage 
and constancy. Unquestionably if the blessed Cotton, Hooker, 
Davenport, Shepherd, and Mitchell, were now living, they would, 
as is evident from their printed books, say, ' Do not sin in giving 
away the inheritance of your fathers.' 

" Nor ought we to submit without the consent of the body 
of the people. But the freemen and Church members through- 
out New England will never consent hereunto. Therefore, the 
Government may not do it. The civil liberties of New En- 
gland are part of the inheritance of their fathers, and shall we 
give that inheritance away? Better suffer than sin. It is bet- 
ter to trust the God of our fathers, than to put confidence in 
princes. If we sufier because we dare not comply with the 
wills of men, against the will of God, we sufier in a good cause, 
and shall be accounted martyrs in the next generation, and at 
the Great Day.*' The vote was finally sent back with the 
following decision. " The Deputies consent not." 

The proprietors resident in England, with one exception only, 
ashamed of conduct they could not justify, disclaimed the usurp- 
ation. Craddock, their former governor, after some little show 
of deference, suffered a default to be entered, and the rest of the 
patentees stood outlawed. The General Court, consistent to 
the last, made one more attempt at delay and supplication. In 
an address, most humble in language, but firm in purpose, they 
excused themselves from sending home the charter, on pretense 
that judgement had been passed against it, upon a quo tvar- 
ranto, and declared if they had been duly notified, no doubt they 
could have put in a sufficient plea to it ; that if they should 
transmit it, they would be looked upon as runagates and out- 
laws ; that the common people would think that his Majesty had 
cast them off; and that they would for their safety confederate 
themselves under a new government, which would be of dan- 
gerous example to other plantatioyis. 

" We do not question your proceedings," they said, in conclu- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 125 

sion, "we only desire to open our griefs where the remedy is to 
be expected, and we are told to renew our humble supplication 
to your Lordships, that we may be suffered to live here in this 
wilderness, and that this poor plantation, which hath found more 
favor with God than many others, may not find less favor with 
the King." A semi-official reply was returned by the Lords 
Commissioners through the medium of Mr. Craddock. They 
again called upon the corporation to send home the charter ; 
and, as an earnest of their benevolent designs, authorized its 
present Government to continue until a new patent should pass 
the seals. 

In addition to this memorial, they availed themselves of the 
want of a formal service of the order, and accordingly voted to 
take no notice of it; "for," said the members in their debates, 
" it is unojjicial, and the Lords Commissioners can not proceed 
upon it, since they can obtain no proof that it was delivered to 
the Governor ;" and, the better to insure this result, they direct- 
ed Mr. Craddock's agent, when he again wrote to his principal, 
not to mention the receipt of his last letter. But this technical 
objection availed not, and a judgment was entered on the quo 
■ivarranto, in Trinity Term, 1684, a copy of which reached 
Boston on the 3d day of July, 1685, and put an end to the 
ancient Government of Massachusetts. 

Thus fell the first American Republic, after an existence 
of more than fifty years ; " but with it," says a distinguished 
author,* " fell not the habits nor the principles which the settle- 
ment of the country had engendered. These were for a time 
slightly hidden in its fall, but soon sprang up again, more deeply- 
rooted and renovated with permanent strength ; nor have they 
ceased to flourish, till, in their turn, they have overrun, and 
probably forever, buried every germ of royal authority in that 
repubhcan soil." 

It is not my object to animadvert on the conduct of the first 
settlers of Massachusetts, but to record so much of their history 
as is necessary to establish the proposition I set out with, namely, 
that American democracy does not owe its origin to the revolution, 
and to the great statesmen that framed the Federal Constitution ; 
but that it existed in the country from the earliest period, and 

* Minot. 



126 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

that a republic de facto was founded at Boston, in 1630, which 
subsisted in full force and vigor for more than half a century. 
After the narration contained in these pages of its rise, progress, 
and termination, I think no one can entertain a doubt that the 
independence of the States conferred little or nothing on Massa- 
chusetts that she did not enjoy under her first charter, unless it 
be an exemption from the restrictions on her trade, imposed by 
the navigation laws. Her internal sovereignty indeed was more 
complete than it is now, for all the delegated powers given to 
Congress, the National Judicatory, and other federal institutions, 
is so much withdrawn from what she then possessed and retained 
in her own hands. 

It is not my province to subject the pretensions of this people 
to the ordeal of criticism. If it were, however, it would be found 
that though the means used for their defense were not always 
such as could be approved, there is much to admire in their his- 
tory. Having removed the charter to America, and boldly 
usurped the power of independent self-government, that act must 
be carefully distinguished from the rest of their conduct, and 
separately considered with reference to its legality or morality. 
Their subsequent, defense, of what they conceived to have been 
their chartered privileges, was always skillful and persevering, 
and often manly. It would be unfair to view them through the 
medium of loyalist prepossessions. They were not rebels, for they 
did not profess to be subjects. And be it remembered the dis- 
tinction they took between local and general allegiance has the 
authority of high names to sanction it. They were not at that 
time so much endeavoring to sever the connection with England, 
as to protect themselves from aggression. If they were intolerant, 
it was the vice of the age. If their negotiations with the parent 
country, through the instrumentality of their agents, were some- 
times deficient in frankness and sincerity, they are qualities 
which have never been ascribed to diplomacy, and there is no 
reason to charge them exclusively with faults, from which, un- 
happily, no people were ever exempt. Nothing could be more 
natural, nothing more plausible, and, I might almost say, nothing 
more reasonable, than their claim to the territory they inhabited. 
Unlike other colonists of modern times, they had not received 
any thing from England that demanded their gratitude. They 
made the province themselves. It is cultivation and population 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 127 

alone that stamp a value on land. The cold, barren, and inhos- 
pitable country comprised within their grant, was scarcely worthy 
of acceptance, certainly not of purchase, at the date of their 
patent. The fostering hand of the parent state was never extend- 
ed to them. They cleared the interminable forests, they resisted 
the assaults of the savages, and the encroachments of the French. 
They built up their villages, extended their settlements, erected 
their fortifications, founded their schools, supported their clergy, 
and established and maintained the government, not only without 
the aid of England, but under many discouragements, and in the 
face of opposition. 

The annals of colonization may be searched in vain for an efibrt 
so distinguished for courage, industry, perseverance, frugality, and 
intelligence. Their descendants have reason to be proud of the im- 
perishable monument their ancestors thus erected, in the great 
American wilderness, of their own fame. Is it then to be wondered 
at, if they loved so dearly, and defended so strongly, a possession 
so peculiarly their own ? and must we not in fairness admit, if 
they called sophistry in aid of their claim to independence, that 
England, to maintain her title by discovery, had not in reality 
much better or sounder grounds to proceed upon. The right of 
Europeans to America will not bear a very close investigation, 
but the pioneers who settled it, under the circumstances I have 
mentioned, might well be excused, if they thought their preten- 
sions quite equal to those who had first sailed along the coast, and 
called it their own. 

Their faults were engendered by the age in which they lived, 
their seclusion from the world, the severity of their morals, and 
the confused and imperfect knowledge they had of the relative 
obligation of the Old and New Testament; and as it would be 
manifestly unjust to omit those circumstances that palliated or 
accounted for their conduct, so, on the other hand, the narrative 
would be equally incomplete if no mention were made of their 
glaring inconsistencies. By quitting the reformed and pristine 
Church of England to which they belonged, they gave up fixed 
principles for the unsettled license of that unmeaning term, 
Protestantism, and decent and necessary ceremonies, for an ex- 
emption from all orders and established observances. They 
measured what they were by what they were not ; and, as they 
protested against the errors of Popery, very complacently assumed 



128 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

that the whole Roman Church was a vast and complicated error, 
and that whatever she did not believe, practice, or enforce — and 
that only — was primitive. In their pious horror of its unauthor- 
ized assumptions, they adopted a system that consisted of nothing 
else but human inventions. They resisted a prelate with disdain, 
for the Pope was a bishop. They suppressed confirmation, trans- 
ferred ordination to the brethren, and marriage to the civil magis- 
trate ; and, as prelatic clergy bowed in reverence, and kneeled in 
supplication, they abolished both as superstitions, and voted to 
stand up boldly before their Maker, and plead guilty or not guilty 
like men. They did not think it scriptural to call the Apostles 
saints, who were unlettered men like Congregationalists (with no 
other possible advantage but'the accidental one of being inspired), 
but they thought it by no means superstitious to appropriate the 
designation to themselves, or to regard old women as witches, 
and consistent with religion to execute them. They denied the 
authority of the General Council, composed of learned divines, but 
they established synods, consisting of men who compensated for 
their want of erudition by their superior gifts of extemporaneous 
preaching. They maintained the right of private judgment in 
religion, but they hanged Quakers ; for it was manifest that they 
who differed from them had no judgment whatever. Determined 
to limit the authority of the clergy, they elected and ordained 
them themselves, and gave them to understand that the same 
power that made could discharge them. They then, with singu- 
lar inconsistency, invested them with privileges that made them 
infinitely more despotic than those of any Church in the world. 
They emigrated, they said, to avoid persecution. More than fifty 
years elapsed before the Church of England could compel them 
to be tolerant. The fact that religions liberty was forced upon 
them by her efibrts, is a triumphant answer to the calumnies that 
have been so liberally heaped upon her by sectarians and Roman- 
ists, at home and abroad. 

This is the natural effect of schism. But the blame belongs 
not to the Puritans of Massachusetts more than to others. Dis- 
sent has no resting-place. There are regions yet unexplored, 
where the adventurers who are in advance of their nation, and 
dwell on the borders of civilization, may push their discovery, and, 
like the Mormons, enjoy the revelation of prophets of their own. 

Although we must now take leave of these republican colonists, 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 129 

we shall still continue their history during the interval that 
elapsed before the arrival of the new charter, when it will be a 
more agreeable duty to examine the institutions they planted in 
the country, the beneficial effects of which are still felt and ac- 
knowledged throughout the United States. I shall next give a 
brief view of the condition of the other provinces at this period, 
which forms a great epoch in the history of the country, and after- 
ward trace the progress of democracy in this continent during the 
existence of the royal government, until it attained that strength 
and maturity that enabled it boldly to assert, and manfully 
achieve, its absolute independence. 

F* 



BOOK 11. 



CHAPTER I. 

Indignation and Grief of the Colonists at the Loss of their Charter — Death of 
Charles II. — Accession of James II. — Apprehensions of having Colonel Kirke 
as Govei-nor— Some Account of him — Mr. Dudley appointed President, who, 
•with the Assistance of six Councilors, undertakes the Government — Protest 
of the Magistrates agninst the Suppression of the Legislatni-e — Unpopularity 
of the President — Description of the Territory within his Jurisdiction — Some 
Account of Maine and New Hampshire, and the Intrigues of Massachusetts to 
extend its Authority over them — Desire of Charles II. to confer the fomner on 
the Duke of Monmouth, and to establish a Royal Government in the Latter — 
Both comprehended within the Commission of President Dudley — Character 
of his Administration. 

We have seen in the foregoing chapters how constantly this 
people asserted and maintained their independence from the day 
they first landed in the colony until the charter was revoked. 
The loss of their liberty filled them with grief, and indignation. 
They had always dreaded interference, and had hitherto resisted 
or evaded every attempt of the king, the Parliament, or the 
hierarchy to control them. This continued watchfulness, and 
anxious jealousy, had infused into their minds suspicion of the 
designs, and distrust of the good faith of England ; but the loss 
of their patent inspired feelings of hatred for what they called the 
wantonness of invasion, and of revenge for the humiliation of 
defeat. Unable to defend themselves, they were compelled to 
yield to superior power ; but if they could not openly contend, 
they could at least harass. If they could not recover the country 
they had cleared and planted, they felt they could make it an un- 
comfortable abode for their victors. In the age in which they 
lived, they knew they must have some form of constitutional 
government, and some fundamental rights conceded to them, and 
that the exercise of those privileges in a spirit of bitterness and 
uncompromising obstinacy must necessarily embarrass any ad- 
ministration, and render the possession of the colony as useless to 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 131 

the English, as their presence and interference was distasteful to 
them. 

Thus the republicanism of America may be traced to its first 
settlement, but the intense hatred of the Imperial Government, 
that gave stability and strength to the anti-monarchical principles, 
and finally led to the overthrow of British rule, must be dated in 
1684 (the period when they lost their charter). It is not easy, 
at this distance of time, for persons practically unacquainted with 
the untiring zeal, the malignant revenge, intrepid courage, and 
martyr spirit of fanaticism, to comprehend the full force of the 
rage and disafi^ection with which the Provincials were maddened 
at the overthrow of their little sovereignty. The revocation by 
Charles II. of the patent of Massachusetts was the first step 
taken in a great scheme of reform he had conceived for the trans- 
atlantic plantations. The inconsiderate manner in which he had 
disposed of a large portion of his American territory, the little 
control he had reserved to himself in the charters he had given 
to several colonies, and the difficulty he found in enforcing obedi- 
ence to the laws of trade, as well as the increasing growth of 
democracy among the people, admonished him that they all re- 
quired remodeling. By commencing with the most refractory, 
he gave warning to the others, that he had at last become sen- 
sible of the error of his past inconsistencies, and was resolved on 
vigorous conduct for the future. He died before he could put 
any of his plans into execution, and the task devolved upon his 
brother, James II. 

The first measure of the new monarch was to make a tem- 
porary provision for the government of Massachusetts, in order 
to give him time to mature and arrange the details of a com- 
prehensive system of colonial policy. His very name inspired 
terror and disHke into the minds of the nonconformists. Their 
fears derived additional intensity from a rumor that reached 
them, that the noted and detestable Colonel Kirke was to be 
imposed upon them as governor. To receive a stranger at all in 
that capacity from the hands of others, when they had been in 
the habit of filling the office by election themselves, was an in- 
tolerable grievance, but to submit to a man who was only known 
for his atrocious butcheries, required a Christian meekness for 
which they could find neither example nor authority in Puritan- 
ism. 



132 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

Kirke was a soldier of fortune, who had long serve-d at Taft- 
giers, and had contracted, from his intercourse with the Moors, 
a taste for executions that astonished and alarmed the inhabit- 
ants of England. After the defeat of Monmouth, he gratified 
his appetite for blood at the expense of the unfortunate and mis- 
guided prisoners. At his first entry into Bridgewater, he hanged 
nineteen prisoners without the least inquiry into the merits of 
their case. As if to make sport with death, he ordered a certain 
number to be executed, vidiile he and his company should drink 
to the health of the king, or the queen, or that of the Chief 
Justice Jeffreys. Observing their feet to quiver in tbe agonies 
of death, he said he would give them music to their dancing, and 
immediately ordered the drums to beat, and the trumpets to 
sound. By way of experiment, he ordered one man to be hung 
up three times, questioning him at each interval, whether he 
repented of his crime ; but the prisoner obstinately asserting, that 
notwithstanding the past, he still would willingly engage in the 
same cause, Kirke ordered him to be hung in chains. All the 
inhabitants of the adjoining county, innocent as well as guilty, 
were exposed to the ravages of this barbarian. The soldiery 
were let loose to live at free quarters ; and his own regiment, 
instructed by his example, distinguished themselves in a particu- 
lar manner by their outrages. By M^ay of pleasantry, he used to 
call them his Iambs, an appellation which was long remembered 
with horror in the west of England.* 

It was some consolation to them to find that instead of this 
monster, Mr. Dudley, a native of the colony, who, though now 
unpopular, had once enjoyed the confidence of the people, and 
served as their agent in England, had been appointed president, 
and several members of the Upper House as councilors. This 
act relieved their apprehensions, and quieted their fears, but it 
did not, as it was supposed, win their affection. They were 
pacified from time to time, but 7iever conciliated. They sighed 
lor their past independence, and moaned over their lost republic. 
They submitted to the English as their masters, but ever evinced 
a sullen discontent, a refractory stubbornness, and an intractable 
disposition. Mr. .Dudley was strongly urged not to accept the 
office, for he who receives a delegated commission, and acts upon 
it, tacitly but assuredly admits the right of the grantor. Even 
* These particulars are extracted from Hume. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 133 

his councilors joined in these expostulations, and the court made 
the following protest : 

" Gentlemen — We have perused what you left with us, as a 
true copy of his Majesty's commission, showed to us the 17th 
instant, empowering you for the governing of his Majesty's sub- 
jects inhabiting this colony, and other places therein mentioned. 
You then applied to us, not as a Governor and a company, but 
(as you were pleased to term us), some of the principal gentlemen 
and chief inhabitants of the several towns of Massachusetts ; 
among other discourse, saying it concerned us to consider what there- 
in might be thought hard and uneasy. Upon perusal whereof 
we find as we conceive : 1st. That there is no determinate rule 
for your administration of justice ; and that which is seems to be 
too arbitrary. 2d. That the subjects are abridged of their liberty 
as Englishmen, both in the matters of legislation, and in laying 
of taxes ; and indeed the whole unquestioned privilege of the 
subject transferred upon yourselves, there not being the least 
mention of an assembly in the commission, and therefore we 
think it highly concerns you to consider whether such a commis- 
sion be safe for you or us ; but if you are so satisfied therein as 
that you hold yourselves obliged thereby, and to take upon you 
the government of this people, although we can not give our 
assent thereto, yet we hope we shall demean ourselves, as true 
and loyal subjects to his Majesty, and humbly make our addresses 
unto God, and in due time to our gracious Prince for our relief. 

"May 20, 1686." 

It was known that the commission was a temporary expedient 
to give legal sanction to the proceedings of the Government, until 
a form of constitution could be agreed upon ; but the acceptance 
of it by Mr. Dudley was considered an act of treachery, if not of 
treason to his country, and was punished accordingly by the 
total and irretrievable loss of his popularity * and influence, and 
by the sleepless watchfulness of his offended countrymen, who lost 
no opportunity during the remainder of his life, either of damag- 
ing his reputation, or thwarting his advancement. f 

* An abstract of the commission may be found in vol. v. Hist. Coll. of Mass., 
and in Belknap's History of New Hampshire, 
t At a subsequent period, when imprisoned, during the rebellion that preced- 



134 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

The commission of the President included the Narragansett or 
King's Province, New Hampshire and Maine, the two last of 
which had been the subject of much litigation and difficulty for 
many years. We have already seen how desirous Massachusetts 
ever was of enlarging her boundaries and of assuming jurisdiction 
over vacant possessions or feeble neighbors. The territory com- 
prised within what now forms the States of New Hampshire and 
Maine, ofiered too great a temptation to her cupidity to be resist- 
ed ; and I have reserved to this place an account of her aggres- 
sion at different times to avoid repeated references, and to pre- 
serve the continuity of the narrative. The first was granted as 
early as 1635 to Captain Mason, and the latter to Sir Ferdinando 
Georges, who severally formed small settlements in them, that 
derived subsistence from the soil, and some httle profit from the 
fisheries and free-trade. Ten years afterward, some persons who 
had adopted heretical opinions, and rendered themselves obnoxious 
to the Government of Massachusetts, removed, either under the 
pretense, or in open contempt of grants of the proprietors, to the 
banks of the river that divided the two provinces, and associated 
themselves, as it was then called, by entering into a mutual com- 
pact for self-government. 

Although differing in many points of doctrine from their friends 
at Boston, they were united by the common ties of descent and 
interest. Their more powerful neighbor and parent state, by 
claims of jurisdiction which they were unable to resist, or prom- 
ises of protection from the Indians, of which they stood greatly in 
need, prevailed upon them to place themselves under her control, 
and by degrees they became both merged in the ambitious and 
growing little republic. Charles TI. strove in vain to re-invest 
the heirs of the grantees with the possession. The rule of the 
" old colony" was more congenial to the feelings of the people 
than that of a monarch three thousand miles off, who had as little 

ed the proclamation of William and Mary, there was a strong party for trying 
and executing him. Fear of consequences alone prevented the people from 
resorting to these desperate measures. Danforth thus writes to Mather : " Mr. 
Dudley is in a peculiar manner the object of the people's displeasure, even 
throughout all the colonies where he sat as judge ; they deeply resent his cor- 
respondence with that wicked man, Randolph, for overturning the Government. 
The Governor and Council, though they have done their utmost to procure his 
enlargement, yet can't prevail ; but the people will have him in jail, and 
when he hath been by order turned out, by force and tumult they fetch him in 
again," &c. — Hutchinson, vol. i. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 135 

interest in their affairs as power to enforce his authority. The 
Commissioners to whom I have referred re-established in 1665 
the government of Mason and Georges, but they had no sooner 
departed for Europe than the General Court invaded the terri- 
tory, and by force of arms resumed their former jurisdiction. Ir- 
ritated at this open defiance, Charles II. threatened to restrain 
their commerce, and they finally yielded to menace, which they 
knew he could execute, what they denied to demands unsupport- 
ed by a military force on the spot. After a vexatious and expens- 
ive htigation, the claim of the plaintiffs was sanctioned by the 
decision of an English court, and their opponents were compelled 
to confine themselves within their original limits. 

This investigation brought to light a fact not then generally 
known, that the proprietors of New Hampshire were entitled to 
the soil alone under the patent to their ancestor, while the heirs 
of Sir Ferdinando Georges had a right both to the country and the 
government. In consequence of this discovery the king was de- 
sirous of purchasing Maine for his son, the Duke of Monmouth ; 
but while he was in treaty for it, Massachusetts, informed of his 
intention by the clerks in the public offices, whom they kept in 
their pay, and having the requisite means at their command, 
bought it from the owners, whose title had been estabhshed by a 
legal decision. The remonstrances of the sovereign was as un- 
availing as all his other expostulations and threats. They enter- 
ed into immediate possession, and governed it by ofiicers of their 
own as a " Colony from the Mother Province." 

Disappointed in obtaining Maine, the king attempted in 1679 
to found a " Royal Province in New Hampshire," and appointed 
a governor, whom he invested with the requisite powers, but he 
found it easier to grant a commission than to enforce obedience to 
it. This was the first constitution of the kind in New England. 
It contained more essential freedom, though less independence, 
than the republic of Massachusetts. It consisted of a President 
and Council, and a House of Assembly, and secured a reservation 
of the king's negative. The Upper House was made a court of 
record for the trial of all causes whether civil or military, subject 
to an appeal of all matters above fifty pounds, and was empower- 
ed to appoint officers, and take efficient measures for the defense 
of the country. Liberty of conscience was allowed to all Protest- 
ants, but the Church of England was especially to be encour- 



136 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

aged. Upon this Belknap, in his " History of New Hampshire" 
(a work written in an able and impartial manner, and in a very 
agreeable style) remarks, " Had such a simple form of government 
been more generally adopted, and perscveringly adhered to, and 
administered only by the most delicate hands, it might have 
served better than any other to perpetuate the dependence of the 
colonies on the British Crown." 

The first act of the legislature plainly disclosed the overpower- 
ing influence of Massachusetts, derived from a congeniality of re- 
ligious and political opinions. They commenced their labors by 
an assertion of right " that no act, imposition, law, or ordinance, 
shall be valid unless made by the Assembly, and approved by the 
people." The experiment, as might have been expected, proved 
abortive. The fanatical preachers, goaded on by their brethren 
in New England, urged the people first to passive resistance, and 
then to armed rebellion ; and although the President was able to 
support the first outbreak, he found it necessary to fly for his life 
from the second. When surrendering his commission, he ob- 
served that " while the clergy are allowed to preach to a mu- 
tinous people, no true allegiance would be found there. On my 
retirement, the world will see that it is the royal commission 
they cavil at, and not my person ; and time will show that no 
one will be accepted by them who put the king's commands 
into execution." 

The succeeding governor endured the same insults, and en- 
countered the same defiance, and added his testimony to that of 
his predecessor, " Unless these factious preachers are turned 
out of the colony, there will be disquiets here, as no Pope 
ever acted with greater arrogance ; and without some force to 
keep this people under, it will be very difficult, if not an im- 
possible thing to put into execution his Majesty's orders, or the 
laws of trade." 

Warned by these failures, both these districts were now compre- 
hended in the temporary commission of President Dudley, and long 
after remained united with Massachusetts. Such, however, are 
the uncertainties which attend human schemes, that now that the 
charter was forfeited, the leaders in these intrigues were mortified 
to find that they had, by their own usurpations and acts, enlarged 
the limits of a royal colony. The inhabitants of both dependen- 
cies were no less humiliated by the reflection, that by lending 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 137 

themselves to a fraud on individual rights, and regal authority, 
they had lost the benefit of a local government, while they were 
too poor and too few in number to have either weight or influ- 
ence in the one they had struggled to establish. Instead of van- 
quishing the king, they had injured their own cause ; and while 
they were congratulating themselves on the success of their efforts, 
they made the unwelcome discovery that victory is sometimes 
more ruinous than defeat. 

The administration of Dudley was of short duration. Tt was 
not probable, it was ever in the contemplation of James to con- 
tinue him for any length of time in his office. He was a colo- 
nist, and would have been both unfit and unwilling to have be- 
come the instrument of his arbitrary measures. It was manifest 
that he considered it but a temporary arrangement himself. As 
far as possible, he sufTered the old order of things to continue. 
Although in obedience to his commission the House of Represent- 
atives was laid aside, the magistrates and select-men discharged 
their several duties as heretofore ; and as little was done by him 
as was compatible with the exigencies of the country. He was 
long enough in office, however, thoroughly to dissatisfy both the 
king and the people. He had not exerted himself in a manner 
that was agreeable to his royal master in giving effect to the 
laws of trade, nor had he enforced prompt obedience to his orders, 
which was expected of him. On the other hand, he had done 
too much to render himself popular with the people. He was 
not elected by them, and they regarded him as an usurper. He 
was a native, and his acceptance of office under a tyrant was 
viewed as the act of a traitor. He had subverted their constitu- 
tion which, by the law of the land, was a capital offense ; and if 
they had had the power, the incHnation was not wanting to have 
made him undergo the extreme penalty. Such is ever the fate 
of undecided measures, and of attempts to conciliate the regard 
of two irreconcilable parties. 

Each thinks that too much has been sacrificed to the other, 
and both complain that too little deference has been paid to their 
respective claims or wishes, while the unsuccessful politician has 
seldom the approbation of his own conscience to sustain him in 
his miscarriage. 

" I warned thee," said one of the preachers to Dudley, with 
that mixture of cant and insolence that always rendered them so 



138 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

intolerable * " J warned thee to be watchful, and strengthen 
the things that remain that are ready to die, but thou wouldst 
not ; and now because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor 
cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth." 

During his short administration, he discovered that temporary 
popularity may be acquired by an affability of manner, or the 
arts of intrigue ; but that character has no sure and solid founda- 
tion, but in honesty of purpose and vigor of conduct. It was a 
valuable lesson ; and in after days, he had a conspicuous oppor- 
tunity, as we shall see, to practice successfully what he had so 
dearly acquired. 

* The character of the people is not to be sought for m the history of the 
colony only, for their public affairs were managed by men of education and 
experience, but recourse must be had to their correspondence among them- 
selves, and to documents that have merely a local bearing. The primitive 
manners of the inhabitants of the rural districts may be judged of by the fol- 
lowing letter of Captain Chudworth to the Governor of New Plymouth, declin- 
ing a military comm-and : 

" Much honored — My service and due respect being presented, yours of the 
19th December, 1673, came to my hands the last day of that month, wherein 
your honor acquainted me that the General Court, by a clear vote, have pitched 
upon myself to command an hundred men, in joining with the rest, in prosecu- 
ting the expedition against the Dutch. The estate and condition of my family 
is such as will not admit of such a thing, being such as can be hardly paral- 
leled, which was well known unto some ; but it was not well nor friendly done 
as to me, nor faithful as to the country, if they did not lay my condition before 
the Court. My wife, as is well known to the whole town, is iiot only a weak 
woman, and has been so all along; but now, by reason of age, being sixty-seven 
years and upward, and nature decaying, so hev illness grows more strongly 
upon her; never a day passes but she is forced to rise at break of day or 
before. She can not lay for want of breath : and when shQ is up, she can not 
light a pipe of tobacco, but it must be lighted for her; and until she has taken 
two or three pipes, for want of breath, she is not able to stir, and she has never 
a maid. That day your letter came to my hands, my maid's year being out, 
she went away, and I can not get nor hear of another. And then in regard for 
my occasion abroad, for the tending and looking after all my creatures, the 
fetching home my hay that is yet at the place where it grew, getting of wood, 
going to mill, and for the performing all other family occasions, I have none but 
a small Indian boy about thirteen years of age to help me. 

" Your humble servant, 

"James Chudworth. 

"To the much honored Joseph Winslow, 
" Governor of New Plymouth, 

«'Scituate, the 16th of January, 1673." 



CHAPTER II. 

Arrival of Sir Edmund Andross — Fears entertained of the King — His Conduct 
toward New York— His Opinions of popular Assemblies— Commission to An- 
dross — Two Companies of Soldiers sent to Boston — Law relative to Mar- 
riages — Manner of imposing Taxes— Punishment of those who refuse to pay 
Rates— Episcopal Clergymen prevented by the Mob from reading the Burial 
Service — Preachers attack the Governor for his Toleration, and justify com- 
pulsory Conformity-— Arbitrary Conduct of Andross relative to Titles of Land 
— Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey united to Massa- 
chusetts — News of the Arrival of the Prince of Orange in England— False 
Rumors spread of a general Massacre— Insurrection — Capture and Imprison- 
ment of the Governor and his Councilors — Conduct of the ^lagistrates who re- 
assume the old Government — Sir Edmund escapes, is retaken and sent to 
England, when he is released — Example of Massachusetts followed by the 
other Colonies — Bad Effects of so many political Changes in England — Re- 
marks on the Appointment of Andross to be Governor of Virginia. 

At length, Sir Edmund Andross arrived at Boston on the 20th 
of December, 1686, with a commission for the Government of 
New England. This was the first direct administration by a 
stranger of the internal affairs of the colony, and the first speci- 
men the people had of the reckless manner in which royal 
patronage was bestowed, and the arrogance, insolence, and op- 
pressions of irresponsible officials. His conduct increased and 
justified the universal discontent. It did not alienate the affec- 
tions of the inhabitants, for they were already irretrievably 
estranged, but it strengthened their conviction that England's 
domination was incompatible with their happiness, as it was 
with their freedom. 

He had been Governor of New York, and had also directed 
the affairs of Rhode Island ; and therefore was supposed to be 
well acquainted with the character of the people over whom he 
was placed. He was a military man of some reputation, and 
having been accustomed to obey, as well as to command, was 
well suited to carry out the orders of James, who was prompt 
even to precipitation in action. 

The new monarch had been more conversant with colonization 
and commercial affairs than his predecessor ;* and commenced 
* Hume says that his application to naval affairs was successful, his encour- 
agement of trade judicious, and his jealousy of national honor laudable. He- 
nault, in his History of France (vol. ii. p. 200) says, the public are indebted to 



140 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

with vigor and ardor the difficult task of reducing the planta- 
tions to order, and to a more immediate dependence on the 
crown. As to the means, as had been predicted by those who 
best knew his temper and principles, he was not at all scrupu- 
lous. As Duke of York, and proprietor of the immense colony 
that bore his name, he had three years before conceded to it a 
free and liberal constitution, and guaranteed to the people uni- 
versal toleration, trial by jury, and exemption from all imposts, 
but such as their representatives should approve, and relinquished 
the right to quarter troops on the inhabitants, or to declare mar- 
tial law. He no sooner ascended the throne than he annulled 
his own acts; taxes were levied by ordinance, titles to land were 
questioned, to augment fees and emoluments ; and of those per- 
sons who remonstrated, not a few were arraigned, and tried 
before his council. 

From a m.onarch who had so early distinguished himself for in- 
consistencies, there was little to be hoped. Although warned by 
his legal advisers, that the colonists, notwithstanding their char- 
ters were vacated, were British subjects, and as such entitled to 
all their rights and privileges, like all the Stuarts, he thought 
his prerogative was sufficient for his purpose, without the aid of 
Parliament to make laws or impose duties. His instructions to 
Andross were as contradictory as his own character — at once 
mild and severe, considerate and tyrannical. " I can not but sus- 
pect," he says in a communication to him relative to a represent- 
ative body, " that aseinblies would be of dangerous consequence, 
nothing being more known than their aptness to assume to them- 
selves many privileges which prove destructive to, or very often 
disturbed the peace of government M'hen they are allowed. 
Neither do I see any use of them. Things that need redress 
may be sure of finding it at the quarter sessions, or by the legal 
and ordinary ways, or lastly by appeals to myself. However, I 
shall be ready to consider of any proposal you shall send." 

We have seen that Mr. Dudley's commission extended over 
New Hampshire and Maine. That of Andross included them like- 
wise. The king invested him and his council with supreme 
jurisdiction, and empowered them to make laws, and execute 
them ; to impose taxes, and enforce their collection : and to sup- 

this prince, when Duke of York, for the contrivance of signals, by means of 
flags and streamers. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 141 

port the vigor of the administration, two companies of soldiers 
were sent to Boston, and placed at his disposal. As soon as he 
had surveyed the field before him, he set himself industriously to 
work to subvert every democratic institution in the country, and 
to devise means to raise a revenue by pursuing the same course 
that had been adopted in New York, and by inventing subtle 
excuses for forfeiting real estate. It was not long before the 
case of some, who apprehended themselves to be oppressed, came 
under consideration, when they were told that they had no more 
privileges left them than not to be sold as slaves ; and that the 
benefit of the law of England did not follow them to the end of 
the earth, which they soon found to be true, although their dis- 
tance did not exempt them from its penalties.* The alarm 
caused by this speech was deeply felt and resented by the whole 
country. It was never forgotten. It was handed down from 
father to son in Massachusetts, and the vows of vengeance then 
recorded, though long deferred, were remembered and fulfilled at 
last in the defeat and slaughter of the royalists at the revolution. 
One of his first acts was to alter the law relative to the solem- 
nization of marriages. Among the numerous innovations of the 
Puritans on the usages of their ancestors, was one to render 
marriage a mere civil contract, and to require only the admission 
and consent of the parties to be made before and registered by a 
magistrate. As there was but one Episcopal clergyman in the 
colony at the time, a transfer of this duty to the Church could 
not well be efiected. but it was ordered for the present that none 
should marry unless they entered into bonds, with surety to the 
governor, subject to forfeiture if it should afterward appear that 
there existed any lawful impediment. For this license a liberal 
fee was exacted, as a matter of course. The governor, being also 
ordinary, assumed as such the whole business of the local courts, 
and compelled the people of the rural districts to attend at Boston, 
at great inconvenience, for the probate of wills, or letters of 
administration ; and exacted whatever charges he thought the 
estate able to bear. He imposed what rates he thought proper, 
■with, no other sanction than that of a few complaisant councilors, 
although his enemies admit that the sum thus raised was small 
in amount, and required and spent for the public service. The 
principal one was a charge of one penny in the pound, and a poU- 

* Minot. 



142 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

tax of twenty-pence. Direct assessment is always odious. It 
brings the collector and rate-payer in immediate contact, and the 
unpopularity of the measure is often increased by the severity or 
assumption of the officer. 

In a new country, though the necessaries of life are abundant, 
there is always a scarcity of money, and compulsory contributions 
to the state are paid with the utmost reluctance. Where the 
authority to levy the tax is questioned, resistance is the natural 
result. Upon one occasion, when the inhabitants of Ipswich re- 
fused to assess upon themselves the proportion assigned to the 
township, and the select men voted, " That, inasmuch as it is 
against the privilege of British subjects to have money raised 
without their own consent, in a Legislature or Parliament, there- 
fore they will petition the king for liberty of an Assembly before 
making any rates," he imprisoned two of the most conspicuous 
of the remonstrants, and fined the others severally thirty, forty, 
and fifty pounds, according to their circumstances or ability. 
When they complained of this harsh treatment, he took some 
pains to trace and collect the numerous precedents set him by his 
predecessors, for this apparently extraordinary act of tyranny, and 
with more sarcasm than policy, asked them if they would like 
to have other similar usages of their forefathers restored. The 
General Court, he observed, always prosecuted a man for appeal- 
ing to England, because it was subversive of their chartered 
rights, and if his petition contained complaints also, he was sub- 
jected to an aditional penalty for slandering the brethren ; but that 
he had punished them for disobedience in refusing to pay their taxes, 
and for nothing else, for as long as they continued to obey the law, 
they were at perfect liberty to memorialise the king as much and as 
often as they pleased. The truth of this remark was so apparent, 
and so conclusive, that it was felt more than the punishment. 

To his astonishment, he discovered that with all their boasted 
love of liberty, the Puritans had reserved this inestimable blessing 
exclusively for themselves, and he soon found it necessary to con- 
tinue and preserve another of their institutions, the censorship of 
the press. But his departure from the fundamental principle of 
the republic, which required " Church membership," as a quali- 
fication for civil rights, shocked their prejudice more than can be 
conceived by a person not conversant with the history of these 
early times. Although they had themselves affected to concede 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 143 

toleration, they had never practically acted upon their professions, 
nor had it ever been their intention to do so. So far from con- 
sidering the liberty of conscience, which the governor had granted 
to all, as an act of grace, they loudly complained of it as an open 
attack, and a direct persecution of themselves. They regarded 
it as the triumph of Anti-christ, and considered that the blessing 
of God would be withdrawn from a country which admitted the 
presence of clergymen ordained by a bishop, instead of the more 
inspired because more ignorant, and more pious because more as- 
suming, lay brethren. It was in vain that they had aided the 
sectaries in England to sacrifice Laud, and to dethrone and 
slaughter their sovereign, if prelacy was to be permitted to have 
the slightest footing in America ; reason and Scripture alike led 
to the conclusion, that they who require to be taught are the best 
able to judge of the qualifications and attainments of the teacher, 
and therefore most competent to invest him with the character 
and office. So rigidly had the exclusion of Episcopalians been 
enforced, that when the Royal Commissioners were at Boston, 
there were not enough of them in the place to form a congrega- 
tion. We are informed on authority that can not be doubted, 
"that most of the inhabitants who were on the stage in 1686 
had never seen a Church of England Assembly. In that, year 
there was but one Churchman* in the government, and one cap- 
tain, and three subalterns in the whole militia of the province. 

Such being the case, the astonishment of the people was only 
equaled by their indignation at a wanton outrage on private 
property. Soon after his arrival he caused Divine Service to be 
celebrated by his chaplain, in the South Meeting-house. In vain 
was the building claimed by its owners. In vain the sexton re- 
fused to ring the bell. No tenderness was exhibited, similar to 
that of the commissioners twenty years before. The clergyman 
came forth attired in the surplice ; the very name of which was 
an abomination to them. The foundation of an Episcopal church 
was soon after laid, and those who had been heretofore taxed for 
the support of Puritan preaching, and compelled to contribute to 
their conventicles, now took a malicious pleasure in soliciting their 
old oppressors for subscriptions, to build up what they called a 
house for the true worship of God. 

* There had been two, but at the date of Randolph's letter to the Archbishop 
of Canterbury (1685), the other bad gone to England. 



144 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

This toleration, thus rendered doubly distasteful, was not very 
easily enforced. Although the people had not the power, through 
their representatives, to repeal the law or prevent its execution, 
they had the means of insult, and the opposition and the tyranny 
of a majority to back them. Upon one of the first occasions, 
under this edict, that a clergyman in Boston, proceeded in his vest- 
ments to the grave-yard, to read the burial-service, a crowd of 
persons led on by an infuriated deacon, drove him from the grave, 
and loaded him with insult and abuse, calling him " Baal's priest," 
and his prayers, ''leeks, garfic, and Popish trash." Prompt and 
decisive measures on the part of the governor prevented a repeti- 
tion of such disgraceful scenes. 

This liberty was not merely deplored by them as a spiritual 
loss, but was sensibly felt in a pecuniary point of view. Although 
they withheld all civil rights from those who were not Congrega- 
tionalists, they did not exempt them from taxation for the support 
of their own preachers. " Discouragements upon the hearts of 
the ministers increase," (writes a correspondent of Mather's), "by 
reason that a licentious people take advantage of a freedom to 
withhold maintenance from them." His deputies in distant parts 
of his jurisdiction, and their subordinate officers still enforced these 
rates where they could do so with safety, and the practice was 
not finally discontinued, until he threatened them if they persisted 
in assessing Quakers and others for that purpose, he would, in like 
manner, make them contribute to the support of the Episcopal 
Church. To his lieutenant-governor at Plymouth he expostu- 
lated on this subject, in a letter still extant, which reflects great 
credit on his judgment and firmness, and showed that, in some in- 
stances at least, he was capable of impartiality.* 

That James was disposed to carry things with a high hand, 
where obedience was either reluctant or withheld, that his com- 
mission for the government of the colony was illegal, and that his 
representative was willing to proceed to any length he was desired 

* "Some years before Andross's Act of Toleration, one Briscoe, a tanner of 
Watertown, published a book against the support of ministers by tithes or 
taxes, and reproached those who received their salary from such a source. The 
ministers thought a man who denied the authority of the civil magistrate to 
provide for the support of pastoi's, /us^e potms erudiendum quam argumento, 
and therefore they left it to the magistrates to defend the cause, who convened 
the tanner before them, and brought him to an acknowledgment, if not to a sense 
of his error." — Hubbard. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 145 

to go, was so palpable to all, that it is no wonder if the copious 
vocabulary of abuse, which Puritanism had at its command, was 
exhausted before they expressed all their hatred of Andross and 
his council. His general conduct was haughty and capricious. 
Many of his acts were arbitrary, and some oppressive ; but there 
was one, to which I shall presently allude, well calculated to excite 
both their indignation and alarm. And yet it is doubtful whether 
the loss of legislative power, illegal exactions, or personal injuries 
touched them so sensibly as toleration. It was mourned over in 
private, and preached against in public. One minister in particu- 
lar, has obtained an imperishable name for his manly patriotism in 
selecting for his text the following words : "Ye have not yet resist- 
ed mito blood, striving against sin." The clergy every where justi- 
fied that compulsory conformity, which in England they resisted 
to the death. " Be pleased" (says one of their most eminent 
divines), "to consider this point a little further. You think to 
compel a man, in matters of worship, is to make him sin, accord- 
ing to Rom. xiv. 23. If the worship be lawful in itself, the 
magistrate compelhng him to come to it, compelleth him not to 
sin, but the sin is in his will that need to be compelled to a 
Christian duty. Josiah compelled all Israel to serve the Lord 
their God (2 Chron, xxxiii. 34). Yet his act herein was not 
blamed, but recorded among his virtuous actions. The Lord keep 
us," he says, " from this harlot's cup of toleration, lest while we 
seem to reject with open face of profession, we bring her in by a 
back door, and so come to drink of the cup of the Lord's wrath 
and be filled with her plagues." 

How inconsistent is man, and how easily does he enlist his 
reason on the side of his wishes or his passions I What rendered 
the conduct of the governor still more irritating was, that he not 
only placed the clergymen of the Church of England practically 
on a footing with the Puritan ministers, but that in his private 
intercourse he treated them with much greater respect. Hutch- 
inson informs us with infinite naivete, that " Sir Edmund actu- 
ally asserted that he considered the preachers as mere laymen ;" 
and records this with as great gravity as if he had never heard 
of such an idea before, and believed Andross to be the only man 
in the world that entertained it. It was a remark that was 
treasured up in the heart and embalmed in its bitterness. 

Swearing on the Book, as it is called, was introduced into the 

G 



146 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

courts of justice, to the horror and disgust of the inhabitants. 
But the most flagrant and indefensible act of Andross's short 
administration was among his last. By the ingenuity of a law- 
yer, he found a prolific source of emolument, in a forced applica- 
tion of a feudal principle to the titles of land. The people were 
informed that the charter having been granted on conditions 
which had not been performed, all acts under it were rendered 
invalid, and the soil reverted to the Crown ; and that if a more 
indulgent construction were adopted, still their grants were not 
under seal, a defect which no length of time, and no amount of 
improvement, could rectify. They were, however, very consid- 
erately informed, that upon due acknowledgment of the insuffi- 
ciency of their conveyances, and a humble petition, new patents 
should be executed for granting them possession on such moder- 
ate terms, as his Excellency should approve. With respect to 
their deeds from the Indian chiefs, it was observed that the sig- 
nature of a savage was about as valuable as " a scratch of a 
bear's paw." In fact, he became the vendor of every man's 
estate at his own price, for the conciliation fee was always in 
proportion to its value and extent. 

To exhibit to the people the necessity, as well as the policy of 
renewing their titles, writs of intrusion were issued against some 
of the principal inhabitants, which had the effect of terrifying 
others into obedience. To prevent the spread of sedition, he for- 
bade all town meetings, except for the choice of officers, and pro- 
hibited any one from leaving the province without a pass from 
himself. In the mean time, while his orders in Massachusetts 
were left to be enforced by his subordinates, he proceeded to de- 
mand submission of the other New England colonies. He first 
visited Rhode Island, which, upon a q2io icarranto issued 
against her, declined to enter into a contest with the king, but 
appealed to his kindness. Having dissolved the government, and 
broken its seal, he appointed five of the principal magistrates 
members of his council, and issued commissions to all the local 
officers. Shortly afterward, he made an excursion into Connect- 
icut attended by several of his assistants, and a guard of honor, 
consisting of sixty men, and demanded its charter. The Assem- 
bly, which was then in session, reluctant to surrender or even 
produce it, kept the subject in debate and suspense until the 
evening, when it was brought forward, and laid on the table. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 147 

JBy a preconcerted arrangement, the lights were suddenly extin- 
guished, but without the slightest appearance of riot or disorder : 
when they were replaced, it was found (amid the well-feigned 
astonishment of all present) that the patent was gone. Sir Ed- 
mund now assumed the government, appointed his councilors, 
and closed the records of the colony, adding with his own hand 
the word "finis."* 

As consolidation appeared to be the principle on which James 
designed to act in America, this immense government, extending 
from the Hudson to Maine, was now still further augmented by 
the addition of the provinces of New York and New Jersey ; and 
a commission was sent to Andross, appointing him Captain-gen- 
eral and Vice-admiral over the whole territory. The constitu- 
tion established for it was a governor and council, having execu- 
tive and legislative authority, independent of the expression of 
popular opinion. 

The progress of events, however, in Europe was working out a 
deliverance for the oppressed colonists of Massachusetts. During 
the spring of 1688, there was a rumor that the Prince of Orange 
was preparing to make a descent upon the coast of England, and 
shortly afterward a Mr. Winslow brought a copy of his procla- 
mation. He was immediately apprehended, for introducing " a 
traitorous and treasonable libel into the country," and bail, 
which was tendered to the amount of two thousand pounds, was 
refused. The old magistrates, and influential colonists, silently 
wished, and secretly prayed for success to the glorious undertak- 
ing ; and determined either quietly to await the event, or pri- 

* " Captain Wadsworth, of Hartford, silently carried off the charter, and 
secreted it in a hollow tree, which, to this day, is regarded with veneration, as 
the preserver of the constitution of the colony. This oak stood in front of the 
house of the Honorable Samuel Wyilys, then one of the magistrates of the 
province. It still remains within the inclosure of the old family mansion, and 
is in little danger of injury, except from time, while under the auspicious care 
of his descendants. In reply to an inquiry concerning it, I was informed ' that 
venerable tree, which concealed the chaiter of our rights, stands at the foot of 
Wyilys Hill. The first inhabitant of that name found it standing in the height 
of its gloiy. Age seems to have curtailed its branches, yet it is not exceeded 
in the depth of its coloring, or I'ichness of its foliage. The ti-unk measures 
twenty-one feet in circumference, and near seven in diameter. The cavity 
which was the asylum of our charter, was near the roots, and large enough to 
admit a child. Within the space of eight years that hollow has closed, as if it 
had fulfilled the Divine purpose for which it had been reared.'"— i/oZmes' An- 
nals, vol. 1. p. 470, in note. 



148 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

vately to urge on the inhabitants to rebellion. The body of the 
people, who are easily excited, goaded to madness by the innova- 
tions with which they were acquainted, and the rumors of still 
greater changes that were in contemplation by the governor, 
whom they accused of being a Papist, were impatient of delay, 
and resolved to get up a little revolution of their own. Whether 
Andross was a Romanist, or a Churchman, can not now be well 
ascertained, the best historians of that period differing in opinion, 
on the subject ; and the fact was a matter of little consequence, 
for in their eyes there was little difference between the two ; and 
it was currently reported that he had asserted he considered, as 
an Episcopalian, the practice of laymen ordaining clergymen, 
and setting them apart to administer the sacraments, without 
any warrant from Scripture, as a most gross piece of presump- 
tion. Whether the Puritans, many of whose ancestors came 
from Holland, to which they had fled for refuge, thought that 
the congeniality of Dutch Protestantism with the tenets of the 
non-conformists of England, would, by its popularity, prove too 
strong for the idolatrous king, or whether they believed, as they 
maintained, that they were the chosen people of the Lord, they 
arrived at the conclusion that they had a despot in the land ; and 
that the only law they recognized, that of the Bible, required 
that he should be dealt with. To raise the popular fury to its 
greatest height, the people were told that it was the intention of 
the governor, in obedience to orders he had received, to take a 
favorable opportunity of falling upon the inhabitants of Boston 
with his garrison, and putting them all to death indiscriminately, 
in the same manner that the Huguenots had been exterminated 
in France. To aid this fearful act of slaughter, it was said that 
he had armed the savages, and kept them in pay to devastate 
the frontiers, and murder the settlers ; and that it was arranged 
that the French were to invade the country at the same timt 
and, as soon as it was depopulated, take possession of it, having 
secretly purchased it from the King of England. 

Some of their grievances they knew to be real, for they had felt 
their effects : and believing both James and his representative to 
be capable of any act of despotism, no falsehood was too gross for 
their credulity. Without stopping to inquire into the probability, 
or even the possibility of a rumor being true, it was a sufficient 
guarantee for its accuracy if it were marvelous and atrocious. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 149 

The absurd story of two companies of soldiers putting a numerous, 
hardy, and brave population like that of Boston to the sword, 
answered the purpose, as well as any other invention, and the 
rage of the multitude knew no bounds. They rose en masse. 
Who originated this movement, and organized the people, is not 
now known, though Bancroft claims the merit of it, and probably 
with sufficient reason, for the ministers ; but that it was not, as 
they represented it to be, an irresistible burst of popular feeling is 
manifest from the cautious mode of their procedure. Men who 
were more in the habit of quoting Scripture than acting under its 
benign influence, were at no loss to find passages to justify to their 
passions that which reason could not approve. Every text that 
sanctioned rebellion was familiar to the saints, while those that 
enforced obedience to authority were satisfactorily explained to 
refer to the support of a true Church like that of the Congrega- 
tionalists, and a perfect civil constitution hke that of their beloved 
and lamented republic. They were therefore informed, and be- 
Heved it was the bidding of the Lord : " Smite Ammon, then 
kill him," said the canting demagogues ; " fear not, have I not 
commanded you? be courageous, and be vaUant." They were 
equally happy in their allusion to his fort. " Thy pride hath de- 
ceived thee, oh thou that dwellest in the cleft of the rock, that 
boldest the heights of the hill : though thou shouldst make thy 
nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, 
saith the Lord." 

Their first step, as a strategic measure, was to avail them- 
selves of a favorable opportunity, aflbrded by a visit for recreation 
or business, to secure the captain, several of the officers, and the 
boat's crew of the " Rose" frigate, then riding at. anchor in the 
harbor. The second was a sudden and simultaneous rush of the 
whole population to the fort, where the governor and his party 
were surprised, and made prisoners. 

In the mean time, the guns in the battery were brought to bear 
on the frigate, and others were taken on board of such vessels as 
were within range, so that at a preconcerted signal she could be 
disabled, or sunk by one general discharge of them all. The 
lieutenant, who appears to have been a man of courage and con- 
duct, at last surrendered, on condition of retaining possession of 
his ship, but unbending his sails, and sending them ashore. The 
magistrates then made their appearance, and with their usual 



150 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

caution interfered, with the benevolent intention, as they said, of 
saving the governor from popular fury, the existence and intensity 
of which, from their retired habits, was until then wholly un- 
known to, and deeply regretted by them. So general, however, 
was the excitement, and so universal the defection, that a large 
portion of the crowd consisted of boys ; and at the head of the 
magistrates, was a retired governor of eighty-seven years of age. 
Even women participated in the universal enthusiasm, and joined 
the elders in exhorting the thoughtless multitude to remember 
that " Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal," 
They then aided in raising the favorite war-cry of Cromwell. 
" To your tents, O, Israel." 

It was a hopeless thing for a few men to contend with the 
whole population of the country, for the alarm-bells had now 
brought in the inhabitants of the neighboring townships, and the 
governor, and his friends, surrendered. As soon as he was in 
custody, the magistrates assembled to ofier him their protection, 
which they ventured to suggest would be infinitely more effica- 
cious, if he would surrender the government into their hands. 
They accordingly addressed to him the following extraordinary 
letter, exculpating themselves from all participation in the re- 
bellion, assuring him and his friends of their personal safety, and 
extorting an unconditional abdication under pain of popular ven- 
geance : 

"At the Town-house in Boston, April 18th, 1689. 

"Sir — Ourselves and others, the inhabitants of this town, and 
places adjacent, being surprised with the people's sudden taking 
arms, in the first motion whereof we were wholly ignorant, being 
driven to it by the present accident, are necessitated to acquaint 
your Excellency, that for the quieting and securing the people 
inhabiting this country from their imminent danger, that they in 
many ways he open and exposed to, and tendering your own 
safety, we judge it necessary that you forthwith deliver up the 
government and fortifications, to be preserved and disposed accord- 
ing to order and direction of the Crown of England, which sud- 
denly is expected to arrive, promising all security from violence to 
yourself, or any of your gentlemen or soldiers in person, or estate ; 
otherwise they will, we are assured, endeavor the taking of the 
fortification by storm, if any opposition be made." 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 151 

As soon as the request was granted, the justices fulfilled their 
part of the compact with scrupulous fidelity ; and through the aid 
of iron-bars effectually secured Andross from the intrusion or 
insults of the people, by keeping him in close custody at the fort. 
A long and elaborate declaration was then made from the Town 
Hall to the inhabitants, in which the part taken by themselves 
was justified in a manner to conciliate the Prince of Orange, if 
he should succeed ; or operate as a defense, if the king should un- 
happily maintain his authority in the realm. The extremity of 
caution betrays a consciousness of guilt. An able state paper like 
that carries with it internal proof of previous preparation and 
study, and leaves no doubt on the mind that the insurrection was 
meditated and planned, and its justification written before the 
popular outbreak. It would have been more to their credit, if 
they had had the firmness to avow what they had the courage to 
execute; and had pleaded self-preservation as a justification, 
instead of an asserted regard for the personal safety of a governor, 
whose imprisonment would have been a poor atonement for his 
conduct, and whose safety would have been too dearly purchased 
by a falsehood. 

Usurpation is at all times a dangerous thing, but when it is 
the act of a whole people, it is difficult to be dealt with, as there 
is always a certain degree of impunity in numbers. The magis- 
trates therefore deemed it prudent to procure a written approba- 
tion of their conduct from the principal inhabitants, and then 
assumed the title of " a council for the safety of the people, and 
conservation of the peace," and filled up the offices vacated by 
the imprisoned councilors and friends of the governor. A con- 
vention of delegates was also called from the several townships, 
sixty-six of whom assembled at Boston, and requested the board 
to continue in office until a general election should take place. 
As soon as a House of Representatives was chosen, the members 
induced the council to re-establish the old order of things, until a 
new charter should be procured, or another form of government 
be settled for them in England. 

While the attention of the magistrates was directed to their 
own safety, that of the governor was not so well attended to, and 
he managed to effect his escape. The regicides were men after 
their own heart, saints and personal friends, and they had 
professed themselves unable to trace them to their place of con- 



152 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

cealment. Hatred, however, is a more active principle than 
duty. Sir Edmund was a Churchman or something worse, the 
servant of a tyrant ; and, what was more to be dreaded, an 
injured man. No friendly hand was extended to aid, and no 
hospitable door was opened to receive him. Every inn had its 
curious questioner, and every village its constable. The manners 
of a courtier, and the language and accent of fashionable life 
betrayed him. He had neglected, or was unable to assume, the 
demure look, nasal drawl, and sleek locks of the Puritan ; and 
when the hue and cry was raised, he was apprehended on suspi- 
cion, and detained till identified, when he was escorted back to 
prison by a party whose numbers showed more respect for his 
prowess than reliance on their own. 

Admonished by this occurrence, they forthwith dispatched him, 
together with his predecessor, Mr. Dudley, who in the acceptance 
of office, as has been previously observed, had rendered himself 
the most unpopular man in the place,* and several other persons, 
to England to take their trial. f The charges against them, how- 
ever, were not reduced to form, nor duly signed by the local 
authority, and they were accordingly released soon after their 
arrival. 

The effect of the revolt was electrical among the other colonies. 
At Plymouth, as soon as they heard of the insurrection in Boston, 
the people secured the deputy of Andross, and imprisoned him. 
The old Pilgrim Fathers were now all dead, but they had trans- 
mitted their gloomy religion and democratic spirit to their chil- 
dren. They reinstated the governor, who had been superseded 
by Sir Edmund, and renewed the constitution which, more than 
seventy years before, had been signed on board the " May Flower." 
In Pvhode Island they assembled on the day of election in great 
numbers, and unanimously replaced their old officers, and resumed 

* Banci-oft calls him " a degenerate son of New England." 
t The inhumanity with which they were treated in prison, appears from their 
letters, to their friends. The ex-Pi-esident Dudley thus writes : " After twenty 
weeks' unaccountable imprisonment, and many barbarous usages offered me 
therein, the last seven weeks of which are upon account of your letters to me, 
I have now to complain that on Monday, the whole day, I could be allowed no 
victuals till nine of the clock at night, when the keeper's wife offered to kindle 
her own fire to warm something for me, and the corporal expressly commanded 
the fire to be put out. 1 may be easily oppressed to death. God will hear them 
that complain to Him." The complaints of Mr. Randolph, the dreaded custom- 
house-officer, show that his treatment was both cruel and indecent. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 153 

their former patent. New York underwent a violent change 
also. One of the lowest of the people, a bankrupt trader, of small 
capacity, but great boldness (a class of persons generally conspic- 
uous in revolutions), urged the inhabitants to depose the lieu- 
tenant-governor, and authorize him to assume the administration 
of affairs until the Prince of Orange should send them one duly 
commissioned. Maryland ejected its proprietor, Lord Baltimore, 
and proclaimed William and Mary. 

Thus did the revolution extend from Boston to the Chesapeake, 
and from the Atlantic to the frontiers of the French and Indians. 
The dethronement, however, and murder of Charles I., the over- 
throw of the Protectorate, the Restoration, the fall of James IL, and 
the changes that preceded and followed the arrival of William and 
Mary, succeeded each other in such rapid succession, that men's 
minds in all the colonies became unsettled ; and from the period 
of this spontaneous domestic revolution, a marked alteration was 
perceptible in the tone of feeling throughout all British America. 
People began to talk and act in a spirit of total independence of 
England. The power to control was much doubted, and the right 
utterly denied. Scotch Covenanters, English Independents, and 
Dissenters of every variety were fast covering the land, and al- 
though these fanatics differed more or less on doctrinal points, 
they all agreed in politics, for they were all republicans. 

Shortly after Andross was released, he was appointed governor 
of Virgina, as a reward for exasperating the people of Massachu- 
setts, and exciting them by his illegal conduct and oppressive 
measures into open rebelHon, a precedent, the value of which may 
be estimated, from the uniformity with which it has been observed 
from that early date to the present period. Whatever changes 
may have taken place in other colonial usages, this has been 
generally adhered to, and from Andross, who caused a revolution 
in 1688, the effects of which are still felt in North America, to 
him who recently assented to an act, rewarding those who plunged 
their country into a civil war, imperial honors but too often await 
the man who signally fails of success in his administration, pro- 
vided he obeys his orders ; while he who preserves prosperity in 
the province committed to his charge, is as frequently left to enjoy 
in obscurity the approbation of his own conscience, unless military 
rank or parliamentary influence, are sufficient to supply the want 
of such a total absence of genius. 



CHAPTER III. 

Representatives meet at Boston, and induce the Governor and Magistrates to 
continue in Office — King and Queen proclaimed — A general Jail-delivery — 
Orders received from England for the local Authorities to retain the Govern- 
ment until further Instructions — Anxiety in America as to the Convention of 
Parliament — Doubts of the Tories and Scruples of the Prelates — Conduct of 
the Whigs— Macaulay's Definition of the "Essence of Politics" — The Report 
of the Commons, and the Declaration of Rights read with great Interest by 
Provincials — Politicallnfluence of the commercial Party in England — Its Con- 
duct toward the Plantations — The Prerogative described — Its Effects in 
America — Blackstone's Definition and Bacon's Views of it — Local Assem- 
blies imitate the Declaration of Rights — Cause of the Loss of the Old Colonies. 

The representatives of fifty-four towns met at Boston, on the 
22d of May, and induced the governor and magistrates, chosen in 
1686, to occupy again the position they formerly held according 
to the rules of their patent ; but these gentlemen qualified, their 
acceptance with a declaration that they did not wish it to be 
miderstood that they intended to reassume the charter govern- 
ment. As soon as this was agreed upon, the " Council of 
Safety" retired from their provisional office. 

During all this time they had neglected to proclaim the king 
and queen, being more concerned for their own liberties than 
those of England. At last they endeavored to compensate in 
parade and processions for any deficiency in promptness, and the 
ceremony took place with more than usual regard to efi^ect. On 
the accession of Charles II., every person was strictly forbidden, 
under penalties for disobedience, to drink his health. Wine was 
now served out to the soldiers, and they were encouraged to 
vocit'erate, on the joyful occasion, their benedictions on loyalty in 
the heart of the little republic. The death of a democratic 
usurper like Cromwell was no subject for rejoicing, for they were 
permitted to participate in his oppression. The expulsion of a 
royal despot like James deserved celebration, for they were the 
victims of his tyranny. 

As soon as a new House assembled, the representatives de- 
clared that the Council ought to assume its proper share in the 
legislature, according to the charter, and unless they did so, they 
should decline to take any part in public aflliirs. Being thus 
compelled to accede to what they so much desired, the restoration 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 155 

was fully effected. The change from the unhmited power of Sir 
Edmund Andross and four councilors, to the old government, 
which had subsisted for such a length of time, was most accept- 
able to the Provincials ; but for want of confirmation from home, 
it did not acquire that weight and authority that was expected. 
The General Assembly, however, feeling that it rested on the 
voice of the people, the only source of power it recognized, enter- 
tained no doubts of the legality of its own acts ; and directing the 
Supreme Court to proceed to the trial of several criminals then in 
jail, upon their conviction ordered them to be executed. They 
justified their conduct by saying, that " since the method lieth 
wholly with the freeholders, the re-establishment of patent privi- 
leges was correspondent to the late settlement of affairs in En- 
gland." Of the petty intrigues of their agent in London, Mr. 
Mather, relative to the restoration of the old order of things, I 
shall not stop to give the particulars, as it is beside the object of 
this inquiry. The General Court, however, prepared an address 
to the throne, couched in the usual language of flattery, but with 
their characteristic caution, avoided the admission of imperial 
authority. In return, they received directions to continue the 
exercise of those powers of government they had usurped, and to 
proceed as they had heretofore done, until time could be afforded 
for taking the whole subject into consideration. 

The period that intervened between the arrival of the Prince 
of Orange and the settlement of the crown upon him, was one of 
intense interest and anxiety throughout New England. They 
M'^ere aware that any protracted delay in the proceedings of Par- 
liament, or disagreement between the two branches, or refusal of 
the prince to accept the terms on which it should be offered, 
would inevitably throw the whole kingdom into confusion ; and 
it was just possible royalty might again cease to exist, and dissent 
be triumphant. As it was anticipated, serious ditiiculties did 
arise, which seemed at first almost insurmountable, and we are 
indebted to the Liberals of that day for a speedy solution of them. 
The Tories questioned the possibility of an abdication, or of the 
throne being vacant for a moment, and maintained that if the 
king's conduct could be considered as a demise, Mary was ijoso 
facto queen. They felt the objection pressing upon them with 
irresistible force, that if the principles of their opponents were 
once established, it necessarily followed that the monarchy was 



156 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

elective. The prelates, besides these questions of law, enter- 
tained conscientious difficulties with respect to their oath of allegi- 
ance. The Liberals were neither obstructed by the doubts of the 
one nor scruples of the other. The former were above their com- 
prehension, the latter beneath their notice. Their idea of the 
British constitution may be summed up in a few words, " Might 
makes right," a maxim that lies at the root of all monarchical and 
republican tyranny. When announced by a king like James 
these consistent politicians denounced it as despotism ; when pro- 
claimed by a government, founded on popular suffrage, they call- 
ed it "the voice of the people," When might was deficient, 
parliamentary skill was recommended. Macaulay, who, from co- 
operation with them, is familiar with their principles, says the 
esse?ice of politics is compro?}iise. 

Modern history may be searched in vain for such an avowal as 
this, a maxim that substitutes expediency for principle, and party 
ascendency for integrity. In this case compromise was not need- 
ed ; they had the might and they used it. They called up the 
" spirits of the vasty deep." They sounded the alarm in the city, 
and summoned their old allies. The conventicles poured out their 
saints, and the pot-houses their sinners, and a mixed and motley 
crowd filled and surrounded the Palace-yard, alarmed the friends 
of order, overawed the timid, and emboldened their party leaders 
to call for a speedy decision. 

Such an assemblage had never before been seen in England. 
Larger and noisier mas-ses, mobs more excited and bent on mis- 
chief, had been known, but such an incongruous and heterogene- 
ous body as this was a new element in the annals of parliamentary 
legislation. The disgusting mixture of obscene oaths with texts 
of Scripture, as they alternately proceeded from the thoughtless 
vagabonds of the town, or canting republicans of the old school, 
soon convinced, as it was intended they should, a majority of both 
Houses, that there was no time to lose. " I am instructed," said 
Lord Lovelace to the Peers, "to present a petition immediately, 
to proclaim the Prince and Princess of Orange to be king and 
queen." When asked by whom he was deputed to do so, he 
hesitated a while, for he had no such memorial, but " the essence 
of politics," a slight "compromise" of truth with falsehood, ena- 
bled him to answer, " There are no hands to it yet, but when I 
bring it here next, there shall be hands enough." 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 157 

This attempt at coercion was indignantly resented, but the 
party had carried their point, and aflected to repress what natur- 
ally subsided of itself when not agitated from beneath. This 
menace of Lord Lovelace, says Macaulay, disgusted his own as- 
sociates. The promoters of the riots, he calls " the fiercer and 
lower class of Whigs, the old emissaries of Shaftesbury, the sup- 
porters of College." He says the Whigs were even more de- 
sirous than the Tories that the deliberations of the Convention 
should be perfectly free. A compromise means to yield something, 
to retain what is left, or to procure an advantage in exchange for 
one surrendered. True to their principles, they " compromised." 
They disavowed their agents, in which they exhibited more 
judgment than gratitude, for in truth they were associates whose 
support conferred no particular honor upon them ; and they 
claimed, in return, the credit of obtaining by argument, that 
which they alone owed to compulsion and terror. 

This revolution had a surprising effect in America, even more 
perhaps than in England. The report of the Committee of the 
House of Commons was read throughout the colonies with the 
deepest interest. Although it contained recommendations as the 
ground- work of future legislation, there not being time to mature 
and pass so many important laws as would be required to give 
them effect, yet viewed merely as declarations of opinions on sub- 
jects of vital interest, the Provincials studied them with the most 
critical attention. Among other things, it was suggested for 
future deliberation, that the judges should hold their places for 
life ;, that the mode of selecting juries should be altered in such a 
manner as to exclude partiality or corruption ; that the Court of 
Chancery should be reformed ; that the fees of public functionaries 
should be regulated, and that the law of quo icarranto should 
be amended. 

The declaration of right recapitulated the offenses and illegal 
conduct of the king. It stated that he had invaded the province 
of the legislature ; had treated modest petitioning as a crime ; had 
oppressed the Church by means of an illegal tribunal ; had, with- 
out the consent of ParHament, levied taxes, and maintained a 
standing army in time of peace ; had violated the freedom of 
election, and perverted the course of justice. Proceedings which 
could be questioned only in Parliament had been made the sub- 
ject of prosecution in the King's Bench ; partial and corrupt juries 



158 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

had been returned ; excessive bail had been required from pris- 
oners, and disproportioned fines imposed ; barbarous and unusual 
punishments had been inflicted, and the estates of accused persons 
had been granted away before conviction. Finally, it assumed 
that he had abdicated the government. It went on to declare 
that the dispensing power, lately assumed and exercised, had no 
legal existence ; and v»'ithout grant of Parliament, no money could 
be exacted by the sovereign from the subject, and that without 
the consent of the legislature, no standing army could be kept up 
in time of peace. The right of subjects to petition — of electors 
to choose representatives freely — of Parliament to freedom of 
debate — of the nation to a pure and merciful administration of 
justice, according to the spirit of its own mild laws, was solemnly 
affirmed. All these things the Convention claimed, in the name 
of the whole nation, as its undoubted inheritance. 

This declaration did not so much make new laws as clear the 
old from obscurity. It rendered that certain which illegal prac- 
tice had involved in doubt. The fundamental principle asserted 
for the last time, and now for ever established by the Revolution, 
viz., that no taxes could be levied on the people but by their own 
consent or that of their representatives, while it secured the liber- 
ties of Englishmen, paralyzed the hold of tyranny in the pro- 
vinces. Truth is eternal and immutable. That which is founded 
on reason, and the rights of freemen in Britain, can not be other- 
wise in America. The doctrine that representation was neces- 
sary to legalize taxation had always been held in Massachusetts, 
and in almost every other colony, from their earliest settlement. 
Their first resolve and their last declaration were assertions of 
this natural right, which, though not so boldly maintained, so far 
as the regulations of the commerce of the empire extended (al- 
though this was protested against), was claimed in the fullest and 
most unlimited manner in their internal affairs. 

There was a latent element, however, in this revolution, doom- 
ed to exercise in after times a powerful and baneful influence in 
America. The commercial interest of the kingdom, by its enor- 
mous, and increasing wealth, emerged from the humble condition 
it had hitherto occupied, and soon made itself felt and considered, 
if not respected. An incipient national debt, occasioned by an 
expenditure that exceeded income, required loans, and the coffers 
of the tradesmen were offered to the needy government, until the 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 159 

creditor was enabled to make his debtor sensible of his depend- 
ence. The sea-ports and the manufacturing towns rapidly en 
croached on the iiifjuence of the landed aristocracy, and boldly 
demanded a portion of power. This new class of aspirants for 
political influence, with the usual selfishness of trade, nurtured a 
jealousy of colonial commerce, and subsequently manifested a zeal 
in restricting it in a manner most beneficial to itself It affected 
to see nothing in the transatlantic possessions but a market for 
English goods. Restriction and monopoly soon engendered a de- 
sire for taxation, and that, contrary to their narrow-minded calcu- 
lations, not only failed in producing a revenue, but, by its ruinous 
expenses, nearly caused a national bankruptcy. True to their 
cold and selfish maxims, they regarded their balance-sheet as 
their only sure guide, which, however accurate it may be in a 
counting-house, is worse than useless to a statesman, who knows 
that it can never represent any thing more than the account of 
one branch of a vast, complicated, and dependent system, of 
which figures can convey no adequate idea whatever. 

In their policy toward the old provinces, the commercial class- 
es imagined they saw prodigious gain in perspective, and flattered 
themselves that compression alone was necessary to cause a con- 
stant stream of wealth to flow into England. In grasping at the 
shadow they lost the substance. The same sort of " ready-made" 
politicians now despondingly announce that they have discovered 
in their tabular accounts, that the cost of protection exceeds the 
value of the return, and propose to abandon colonies altogether. 

These results of the great Pvevolution of 1688, were not only 
not dreaded, but not even suspected at the time on either side of 
the water. The Provincials, engrossed by its more immediate 
operation, saw their own emancipation from uncertain authority, 
and nothing more. The limitation of the prerogative was held 
by them as equally applicable to the regal power in America. 
Its exercise had been made even more perplexing and oppressive 
toward them than toward the English. Theory and practice had 
hitherto been so much at variance, that they scarcely knew where 
it would reach, or what it would subvert. What opinions emi- 
nent lawyers held on the subject was of little consequence to 
them, the practice had ever continued the same, and although 
Parliament, to make these new restrictions less obnoxious to roy- 
alty, asserted that they only declared what the law always had 



160 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

been, it was manifest that if it had been so plain it did not re- 
quire repetition, and that Westminster Hall was not so unani- 
mous as had been represented. The very word "prerogative" 
was one of terror, for it was synonymous with a despotic power 
above the law, making or dispensing with laws at pleasure. 
Whichever way a colonist turned, he was met by it. It was in- 
visible and intangible, but nevertheless it was omnipotent. It 
claimed the whole country, the right of taxation, of government, 
of regulating commerce, controlling the militia, of pressing sailors, 
and billeting troops, of making war and peace, of constituting 
courts, and administering justice in matters civil, military, or eccle- 
siastical, of monopolies, of coinage, and in fact, in and over all 
things. It had a jargon of its own, not very intelligible to the 
hardy but unlettered fishermen of the sea-coast, or the- inhabit- 
ants of wigwams made of the bark of trees. When they heard 
of floatsam, jetsam and ligan, treasure-trove, deodands, and waifs, 
bona vacantia, ne-exeats and non-obstantes, and asked what these 
mysterious and unpronouncable words meant, they were told they 
were prerogative rights ; and when they demanded what prerog- 
ative was, the best informed man could only reply in general 
terms, that "it is that special pre-eminence which the king hath 
over and above all other persons, and out of the ordinary course of 
the common law, in right of his royal dignity. It signifies in its ety- 
mology (from pr0D and rogo) something that is required or demand- 
ed, before, or in preference to all others. And hence it follows, 
that it must be in its nature singular and eccentrical, that it can 
only be applied to those rights and capacities, which the king en- 
joys alone, in contradiction to others, and not to those which he 
enjoys in common with any of his subjects ; for if once any one 
prerogative of the Crown could be held in common with the sub- 
ject, it would cease to be prerogative any longer. And therefore 
Finch lays it down as a maxim, that the prerogative is that law 
in the case of the king which is law in no case in the subject." 

This was the best description Blackstone could give of it at 
a later period. To a professional man, already practically ac- 
quainted with its operation, it may suffice, though not very per- 
spicuous or precise, but ordinary men will rise from its perusal, 
not much enlightened by the definition of the learned judge. 
Lord Bacon, when colonization was first seriously thought of, 
instructed James I. in a very explicit manner on this subject. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 161 

He maintained : 1st. That the king may constrain the person of 
his subjects not to go out of the reahn. 2d. That he may for- 
bid the exportation of commodities.* 3d. He may forbid the 
importation of any commodities into this realm. 4th. He may 
set a reasonable impost upon any foreign wares that come into 
the same ; and so on native wares that go out of the realm. 

The law being thus understood by Crown lawyers, the colonial 
charters of that reign \tere drawn in conformity with their opin- 
ions. We now perceive the reason why there were inserted in 
every patent, " a license to emigrate, a permission to export mer- 
chandise, and exemption from impost during a limited term ;" 
and also similar provisions which were framed according to the 
prevailing notions of the times. "It is curious," says Chalmers, 
*' to remark that it should seem, not only from the passage above 
cited, but from the argument of Bacon in the House of Com- 
mons, in support of the same doctrine, that there once existed in 
the law of England a principle, perhaps a practice, analogous to 
the internal and external taxation of the colonial controversy, 
since he contended that the king might establish an impost on 
exports and imports, though he admitted that the prerogative 
could not impose a domestic tax on lands or on polls." Thus, 
though the petition of right had determined, with regard to En- 
gland, the law, against the opinion of Bacon, before recited, 
Charles I. continued to lay imposts on her dependent territories. 
The precedent for this had been established in Ireland. After 
its subjugation by Henry II., it was treated as a colony. The 
change made in its laws was not effected by any English Parlia- 
ment, but by the charters of its conqueror, and other subsequent 
sovereigns, who considered it a dependent conquered dominion, 
and, as such, possessed a legislative power over it.* 

We have already observed that the repeated changes in the 
government of England had a very deleterious effect on the 
plantations. The popular cause in the colonies was always in 
advance of the parent country ; and as soon as the Parliament 
obtained any new security for liberty, it was seized upon by the 
local legislature as their joint property, and their outposts were 
pushed on further into the royal territory. As soon as the report 

* See Chalmers's Introd. to Hist., p. 3, notes. 

t Black. Com. vol. i. p. 99. Cowper's Reports, p. 210, Piym. Inst. vol. iv. 
p. 294. 



162 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

of the Commltlce of the Commons, containing recommendations, 
reformatory laws, and the declaration of rights, arrived in Amer- 
ica, the Assemblies every where passed fundamental laws, assert- 
ing their privileges, and what they conceived to be their liber- 
ties ; and although these were very properly rejected in. England, 
on the ground that it was absurd for such dependent colonies to 
designate the terms on which they would alone admit their sub- 
jection, still they afforded a convincing proof of the growth of 
democratic principles, and by the discussion to which they led, 
added life and strength to disaffection, which was now propa- 
gated with the utmost zeal by fanatics and demagogues. This 
encroaching disposition originated in an early and long-continued 
neglect of the colonies by England. When their importance 
began to demand attention, it w^as strengthened by an equally 
flagrant mismanagement ; and when they became populous and 
obedient, it ripened into rebellion by an unjust and illegal claim 
of taxation, in the support of which the reasoning of English 
statesmen afforded topics of ridicule in the town meetings, and 
the conduct of the troops an easy triumph to the undisciplined 
levies of the agricultural districts. 

It would be unavailing now to blame those who severed the 
connection, although, if there had been real affection on their 
part, the separation would not have been final. How much or 
how little censure they deserve, is not at the present time the 
question. What we owe to ourselves is a rigid self-examination. 
We should not shrink from laying bare our own faults, that M^'e 
may avoid similar errors in future. If we yielded independence 
by not retaining sufficient control over the form of their constitu- 
tions, let us be more careful of concession. If we interfered with 
their just rights, let us respect those of the remaining colonists. 
If we tried responsible government, as we shall presently see we 
did, denuded the governor of his power, and invited resistance by 
our own weakness, let the salutary lesson not be lost upon us. 
In short, having once made shipwreck, let us survey the coast, 
and take the bearings of the rocks and shoals, and shape our 
course accordingly. 

It must be admitted, that it is difficult for loyal colonists to 
look back upon the annals of those revolted provinces, without the 
deepest regret, and the most humiliating mortification. That the 
task of reviewing a series of absurd, negligent, and illegal acts of 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 163 

needy governors and ignorant boards of control, all terminating 
in discreditable miscarriages and defeats, is too painful even to be 
attempted by English statesmen, is manifest from the fact that it 
has given neither prudence to their measures, wisdom to their 
councils, nor vigor to their conduct. When the independence 
of the old colonies w^as acknowledged, an immense number of 
dispatches from several governors were found in the pubHc ar- 
chives unopened. The pen had been laid aside in despair for the 
sword, and both were disgraced by imbecility. It is to be feared 
that the provincial history, every page of which is filled with 
valuable instruction, has shared the same fate as the official cor- 
respondence, and remained unread. A natural or accidental de- 
fect of vision is an infirmity well entitled to commiseration, but a 
statesman who disdains the labor of research, and remains will- 
fully blind, is a criminal on whom expulsion or censure impose no 
adequate punishment. 

Unhappily merit is not always the passport to office. Party 
convenience or family interest, parliamentary influence or success- 
ful intrigue, too often elevate men to important stations, who, from 
vanity, ignorance, or want of principle, are utterly unable to dis- 
charge their duties. Sad indeed is the condition of a people when 
such is the temper of those who govern them. This, however, 
is an evil that no revolution can ever cure ; and it would seem to 
be a law of our nature, that we must depend on the lottery of life 
for the selection of our rulers. It has indeed become a parlia- 
mentary maxim, that Provincials must be content to have their 
work " coarsely and roughly done ;" inasmuch as a colonial min- 
ister, who has never crossed the Atlantic, can not, in the nature 
of things, be supposed to know much about the young and vigor- 
ous empire committed to his charge. It is difficult to pronounce 
our opinion on the state of an invalid without visiting him. But 
when not only the disease, but its seat and its symptoms are dif- 
ferently represented, he who ventures to prescribe is generally 
found to be bold in proportion to his ignorance. 

Empirics invariably proclain that they have discovered a medi- 
cine applicable to all ages and persons, and all cases and diseases. 
Political jugglers, who, in integrity and knowledge are not inferior 
to their medical brethren, possess similar powers of invention and 
deception, and have ever on hand some nostrum of universal ap- 
plication. Of these, the last and most valuable specific for con- 



164 THEENGLISHINAMERICA. 

stitutional infirmities, bears the captivating title of " Responsible 
Government." When the world is overrun with credulity, ought 
we not to cease to wonder at the number of knaves who gather 
the harvest ? The sanatory state, however, of the colonial empire, 
fortunately for those intrusted with its care, furnishes abundant 
material for exculpation. The people will not follow the regimen 
ordered for them, or previous practitioners have mistaken thcii 
complaints. Their constitutions are naturally feeble, or it is an 
epidemic under which they suffer, that will soon pass away, or 
there is a complication of disorders — they are too much reduced 
for active measures — or their nervous temperament is difficult to 
manage. But who can doubt that their treatment has been both 
judicious and successful, when we have been so fortunate as not to 
have lost one of our numerous dependencies since the great pesti- 
lence of 1783, in which no less than thirteen fell victims to the 
ignorance and neglect of our ancestors. Warned by their failure, 
we have wisely avoided the route they traveled. Let us be 
careful that the road we have chosen does not lead to the same 
termination. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Effect of Toleration on the Ministers — Cotton Mather's Attempt to raise a Revi- 
val of Bigotry, by spreading Alarm about Witches — His Books and Sermons 
—Preface by Richard Baxter — Exorcises a Child at Boston — Salem Delusion 
— Special Court — Its Proceedings— Executions — Case of the Rev. Mr. Bur- 
roughs — Sudden Change of Public Opinion — Mather falls into Contempt— De- 
cline of Congregationalism — Arrival of Sir William Phipps with the New Char- 
ter. 

The summary manner in which the State prisoners were re- 
leased on their arrival in England, and the favorable reception 
Sir Edmund Andross met with from the court, together with the 
continued delay their agents experienced in obtaining a renewal 
of the old, or the issue of a new charter, filled the people with the 
greatest anxiety and alarm. Having no representation in Parlia- 
ment, and neither court nor party influence in England, beyond 
the sympathy of the sectaries, they had every thing to fear from 
royalty, to which they had always manifested a determined oppo- 
sition, and nothing to hope from Episcopalians, whom they had 
ever oppressed and persecuted, while the service they claimed to 
have rendered to the public by enlarging the bounds of the empire, 
merited and received the answer, that their settlement was under- 
taken for their own advantage, and not the benefit of the State ; 
and if their endeavors had been successful, they had themselves 
reaped the reward of their enterprise. 

This state of uncertainty as to the form of their future govern- 
ment, weakened the hands of their local authorities, while tolera- 
tion equally diminished the influence of the ministers. It is not 
easy for any person, not thoroughly versed in the history of these 
people, to comprehend the vast extent of power wielded by the 
clergy during the existence of the first charter. They were not 
only councilors by an unwritten law, but also the authors of 
State papers, often employed on embassies abroad, and at home 
speakers at elections and in town meetings, " New England," 
says Cotton Mather, "being a country where interests are re- 
markably enwrapped in ecclesiastical circumstances, ministers 
ought to concern themselves in politics." They were invested 
with civil and spiritual authority ; there was no escape from their 



166 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

grasp, and never could have been, Lad it not been for the tolera- 
tion granted, or rather forced upon the people, by the Church of 
England. Religious liberty struck at the very foundation of 
their power, for emancipation of the mind and freedom of action 
are inseparable. We have seen that the Puritans, in flying to 
the wilderness to obtain exemption from ecclesiastical control, 
with singular inconsistency, claimed that privilege exclusively 
for themselves, making Church membership the qualification for 
the right of citizenship. To uphold this spiritual domination, the 
aid of the civil power was called, in return for which assistance 
the clergy lent their powerful support to the government. By 
their united efforts, all dissent was banished or extirpated from 
the colony, and at the time that they were inveighing against 
the persecution of the Episcopalians, they themselves made liberal 
use of mutilation, whipping, banishment, and even the gallows, 
to preserve conformity. 

The moment religion was left unfettered, there was an immedi- 
ate reaction in public feeling. Unrestrained liberty as usual pro- 
duced licentiousness. The people had been governed by their 
fears, no less than by their affections, and the clergy lost their 
authority. New sects sprang up, with a zeal and vigor that 
ever attends novelty ; and, as usual when many kinds of dissent 
are found in the same field, they produced hybrid varieties of the 
same species in abundance, until the ground was overrun with 
their exuberance, and every wholesome and sound plant was 
smothered by their rapid growth and coarse foliage. 

The ministry felt it to be their duty, as they knew it was their 
interest, to recall men's minds from these numerous errors. The 
difficulty of the attempt lay in the selection of the means. After 
cool reason, and exciting declamation had been severally tried and 
failed, recourse was had to superstition. The Puritans had ever 
esteemed themselves a chosen people, and were fond of comparing 
New England with Canaan, of tracing a resemblance in their 
flight to the wilderness to that of the Israelites, and of assimila- 
ting their laws to the Mosaic code. In every piece of good for- 
tune they saw an especial answer to their prayers, and in every 
mortification and calamity the direct personal malice of the Devil 
and his agents. This vanity and credulity their preachers had 
always encouraged, as their own influence necessarily kept pace 
with the superstition of the people. They now fell back upon it 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 1C7 

as their last resource to check the inevitable consequences of the 
late act of toleration. 

Among this numerous and powerful class, there was one man, 
Dr. Cotton Mather, admirably well quahfied to preach up a 
crusade. He was more distinguished for subtle reasoning, and a 
deep knowledge of human nature, than any of his contemporaries, 
and was less obstructed by scruples, or restrained by consequences. 
Extremes meet. The Puritans abhorred any thing that bore the 
slightest resemblance to Popery, or reminded the beholder of its 
abominations. In their ceremonies and doctrines they succeeded 
as well as they could have desired in producing a contrast ; but 
in conduct and principle, in which power rests, they were identi- 
cal with one of the most able and artful of the Romish sects. 
Ultra Puritans like Dr. Cotton Mather, and extreme Romanists 
like Ignatius Loyola, bear so striking a resemblance to each other, 
that they may be both classed as members of the same school. 
The non-conforming remnant of the former body still remaining 
in the Church of England, who call themselves, with no little 
modesty, Evangelicals, but are known to others by the more 
appropriate name of Low Churchmen, are alike distinguished for 
their violent denunciations against Popery, and their decided par- 
tiality for and open practice of Jesuitical principles. 

Dr. Mather in order to promote a revival in religion, and re- 
store the lost authority of the clergy, alarmed the fears and 
awakened the superstition of the whole people by deliberately 
planning and promoting the witchcraft delusion, which inflicted 
such an indelible disgrace on his country. He aspired to be con- 
sidered the great champion of the Church, and the most success- 
ful combatant against the Prince of Darkness. Eager to signal- 
ize himself in this particular kind of warfare, he seized upon 
every occurrence that could be represented as the result of diabol- 
ical agency, circulated in his rmmerous publications as many 
tales of supernatural wonder as he could collect, and, at last, got 
up the delusion he so much desired in Boston. Having found a 
fitting instrument for his purpose, in a young girl of remarkable 
quickness and versatility of talent, he took her into his house for 
the purpose of exorcising her. Among many proofs she gave of 
being possessed of a devil, one was that she was very fond of the 
Book of Common Prayer, which she called her Bible, while she 
could not decipher a syllable of the Assembly's Catechism. At 



168 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

the same time she exhibited such a tendency to heresy, she was 
often permitted to utter words of consolation and truth, and she 
would sometimes stand on the threshold of the E.ev. Doctor's 
library and say : " They can't come in ; God won't suffer them 
to enter into thy presence." The doctor published a narrative 
of her diabolical performances, together with a sermon, which 
was circulated through the country, and reprinted in England 
under the superintendence of his patron and friend, the noted 
Richard Baxter, who, in a recommendatory preface of his own, 
affirmed, " that he who would not be convinced by all the evi- 
dence Dr. Mather presented that this child was bewitched, must 
be a very Sadducee." Time had not softened the cruel disposition 
of this persecuting Enghsh Dissenter, nor age mitigated his fero- 
city. He exulted in the part he had himself taken during the 
Commonwealth in urging on Hopkins, the Puritan witch-finder, 
in his murderous occupation. Alluding with unfeeling bitterness 
to the execution of an aged clergyman on a similar charge, who 
had read his own funeral service at the gallows, and whom he 
called " the reading parson," he encouraged Mather to proceed in 
his glorious career. 

The work of the Rev. Doctor, entitled " Memorable Provi- 
dences, relating to Witchcraft and Possessions," received the 
sanction of the other Puritan divines of Boston, who declared 
that the author had clearly proved " there was a God, and a 
devil, and witchcraft. The old heresy of the sensual Sad- 
ducees denying the being of angels either good or evil, died not 
with them nor will it, while men abandoning both faith and 
reason, count it their wisdom to credit nothing but what they see 
and feel. How much this fond opinion hath gotten ground in 
this debauched age is awfully observable, and what a dangerous 
stroke it gives to settle men in atheism it is not hard to discern. 
God is therefore pleased, besides the witness borne to this truth 
in Sacred Writ, to suffer devils sometimes to do such things in 
the world as shall stop the mouths of gainsayers, and extort a 
confession from them." 

This sermon affords a curious specimen of fanatical declama- 
tion. " Witchcraft," says the author, " is a renouncing of God, 
and the advancement of a filthy devil into the throne of the Most 
High , witchcraft is the renouncing of Christ, and preferring the 
communion of a loathsome, lying devil, before all the salvation 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 169 

of the Lord Redeemer ; witchcraft is a siding with Hell against 
Heaven and Earth, and therefore a witch is not to be endured in. 
either of them. It is a capital crime, and is to be prosecuted as 
a species of devilism that would not only deprive God and Christ 
of all His honor, but also plunder man of all his comfort. No- 
thing too vile can be said of it, nothing too hard can be done to 
such a horrible iniquity as witchcraft is." 

The favorite texts on the subject were, " Thou shalt not suffer 
a witch to live,' and " Have I not chosen you twelve, and one is 
a devil." Such a fearful subject, handled in such an exciting 
manner, easily prepared the way for the tragedy that followed. 

While this delusion, so wickedly devised and so artfully sus- 
tained, was thus spreading over the metropolis, its operations 
were going on with tremendous efficacy in Salem and the neigh- 
boring towns. Additions were continually making to the num- 
ber of accusers, by voluntary accessions, and by those who, having 
been charged themselves, to save their lives, confessed and be- 
came witnesses against others. The prisons in Salem, Cam- 
bridge, and Boston, were crowded with supposed witches, and 
all the securities of society were dissolved. Every man's life 
was at the mercy of his neighbor. Fear, says the historian of 
this period, sat on every countenance. Terror and distress were 
in all hearts, and silence pervaded the streets. Many of the 
people left the country ; all business was at a stand ; and the 
feeling, dismal and horrible indeed, became general, that the prov- 
idence of God teas removed from them, and that they were 
given over to the dominion of Satan. 

To meet the extraordinary crisis a special commission was 
issued to several of the principal citizens and jurists of the colony, 
constituting them a court, to try accused persons at Salem. 
They assembled by particular appointment at the Court House, 
on the 2d of June, 1G92. The first victim, an old woman, was 
executed on the 10th of June. The court then adjourned. 
The government during the recess consulted several of the 
Congregational ministers of Boston and its vicinity, respecting 
the prosecutions, who, while they urged the importance of 
caution and circumspection in the method of examination and 
admission of testimony, at the same time decidedly and earnestly 
recommended that the proceedings should be "vigorously carried 
on." The court sat again on the 30th of June, and five more 

H 



170 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

old women were put to death on the 19th of July. It opened 
again August the 5th, and on the 19th of the same month four 
men and one woman were executed ; and on the 22d of Septem- 
ber two men and six women were hanged. Eight more were 
condemned, but these were the last that suffered capitally, at 
that time. One man refusing to plead to the indictment, was 
pressed to death as a punishment for his contumacious silence. 

The principal immediate effect of these summary and san- 
guinary proceedings, was to render the accusers more bold, con- 
fident, and daring. They began to feel that the lives of the 
people were in their hands, and seemed at last to have experi- 
enced a fiendlike satisfaction in the thought of bringing infamy 
andr death upon the best and most honored citizens of the col- 
ony. Among those who suffered was the Rev. Mr. Burroughs, 
of Salem, whose fate struck a horror through the community, 
which it required all the art and sophistry of the board of minis- 
ters to calm. He was a well-educated man, had received the 
honors of Harvard University, in 1676, of a spotless life, and no 
charge of inconsistency as a minister had ever been attempted to 
be brought against him. On the day before his execution, the 
unfortunate woman, Margaret Jacobs, who appeared as a wit- 
ness against him, obtained permission to visit him, when she 
made a full acknowledgement of her perjury, and entreated him 
for his forgiveness. This he freely gave her, and spent some time 
in prayer with her. When the hour arrived for his execution, he 
was carried in a cart, with other convicts, from the jail to Gal- 
lows Hill, about an eighth of a mile toward Danvers. While 
Mr. Burroughs was on the ladder, a contemporary writer observes, 
" he made a speech for the clearing of his innocency, with such 
solemn and serious expressions as were the admiration of all pres- 
ent. His prayer was so well worded, and uttered with such 
composedness and such fervency of spirit, as was very affecting, 
and drew tears from many, so that it was apprehended the spec- 
tators would hinder the execution. To meet and turn back this 
state of feeling, the accusers cried out that they saw the Evil 
Being standing behind him in the form of a black man, and dic- 
tating every word he uttered ; and the infamous Cotton Mather 
hurried round among the crowd on horseback, haranguing the 
people, and saying that it was not to be wondered at that Mr. 
Burroughs appeared so well, for that the devil often Irausfc-.rmcd 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 171 

himself into an angel of light. This artful declaration, together 
with the outcries and assertions of the accusers, had the intended 
efiect upon the fanatical multitude. When the body was cut 
down it was dragged by a rope to a hollow place excavated 
between the rocks, stripped of its garments, thrown with two 
others into the hole, trampled down by the mob, and finally left 
uncovered. 

Nor did Mather forget those whose orthodoxy was doubtful. 
The religious toleration granted and enforced by Andross, disclosed 
the fact that there were some of the Baptist heresy still dwelling 
among the faithful. When positive proof could not be obtained 
against the delinquent, spectral evidence was admitted, a term 
then in use to designate information exhibited to the eyes or con- 
veyed to the ears by spirits or ghosts. These irresponsible in- 
formers soon gave notice that the devil was at work among the 
people, in the shape of a Baptist preacher, making them renounce 
their baptism, and be dipped anew by him, and reviling and ridi- 
culing the lawful ministers of the elect. The absurdity of these 
charges naturally led people to inquire if there was not fraud in 
others. Alarmed at the magnitude of the evil, they paused and 
conferred with each other on the subject ; but that which finally 
overthrew the power of the informers, was the increasing number 
of persons of character, station, and influence among the accused. 
They repeatedly charged the Rev. Mr. Willard, the author of 
the " Body of Divinity," one of the most respectable ministers of 
the time. They accused a member of the immediate family of 
Dr. Increase Mather, who had recently returned from a special 
embassy to the English court respecting the charter, and was 
then the President of Harvard College, the man whom Eliot 
calls the " Father of the New England Clergy." A writer of 
that period also intimates that they lodged information against the 
wife of the newly-arrived governor, Sir William Phipps, and 
implicated one of the judges of the court. Their last accusation 
(which was preferred against Mrs. Hale, the wife of the minister 
of the First Church in Beverly) was, in the opinion of the public, 
the most false and wicked of all, and efi^ectually broke the spell 
by which they had held the minds of the whole colony in bondage. 
Her genuine and distinguished virtues had won for her a reputa- 
tion, and secured in the hearts of the people a confidence, which 
superstition itself could not sully nor shake. Mr Hale had un- 



172 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

happily been active in all the previous proceedings, but knowing 
the innocency and piety of his wife, he stood forth between her 
and the storm he had himself helped to raise. In denouncing 
Mrs. Hale, the whole community was convinced that the accus- 
ers had perjured themselves, and from that moment their power 
was destroyed. The awful delusion ceased, and a close was put 
to one of the most tremendous tragedies in the history of real life. 
There are few if any other instances on record of a revolution of 
opinion and feelings so sudden, so rapid, and so complete. 

During the prevalence of this fanaticism, twenty persons lost 
their lives by the hand of the executioner, fifty-five escaped death 
by confessing themselves guilty, one hundred were in prison, and 
more than tw^o hundred others under accusation. Immediately 
upon the termination of the excitement, all who were in jail were 
pardoned. Nothing more was heard of the afflicted, or the con- 
fessors. They were never called to account for their malicious 
impositions and perjury. It was apprehended that a judicial in- 
vestigation might renew the delusion, and all were anxious to 
consign the whole subject as speedily and as effectually as possible 
to oblivion. The state of things which Cotton Mather labored to 
bring about, in order that he might increase his own influence 
over an infatuated people, by being regarded by them as mighty 
to cast out and vanquish evil spirits, and as able to hold Satan 
himself in chains by his prayers and his piety, brought him at 
length into such disgrace, that his power was broken down, and 
he became the object of public ridicule and open insult. 

The excitement that had been produced for the purpose of re- 
storing and strengthening the influence of the clerical and spiritual 
leaders, resulted in effects, which reduced it to a still lower point. 
Congregationalism then received a shock from which it never af- 
terward fully recovered. The intelhgence of the ministers, if not 
their integrity, was questioned, and doubt, distrust, and infidelity 
soon struck root amid the ruins of superstition. While their 
fearful proceedings M'ere in progress. Sir William Phipps arrived 
with a new charter, the nature of which we shall describe here- 
after, and thus were terminated all hopes of the restoration of the 
old order of things. It forms an important era in colonial history. 
Hitherto, the people had governed themselves without the control 
of England. They still continued to do so, as we shall see, in 
spite of her interference. They grew up in neglect ; when re- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 173 

straiiit was attempted, they resisted ; and the moment they were 
able, they severed the connection. The Whigs reversed this pohcy 
for the remaining colonies ; they began with restraint, and ended 
with neglect and fatal indulgence, which are likely to produce a 
similar result.* 

* Whoever is desirous of further information on this subject, will find ample 
details in Hutchinson, and the Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
but the best account is by the Rev. Mr. Upham, from whom I have drawn 
largely. 



CHAPTEE V. 



The two most interesting Periods of American History extend, 1st. From the 
Settlement of Massachusetts to the English Revolution of 1688; 2d. To the 
Independence of the Colonies in 1783 — Review of the first Period — Number 
and Names of Colonies then settled — Their Population and Commerce — Ac- 
count of the different Forms of Government then established there — Great In- 
crease of democratic Opinions — Change in Tone of Feeling in Virginia — Some 
Account of the Church there — Loyalty of Churchmen — State of Maryland, 
Pennsylvania, and New York — Effect of the Conduct of New England upon 
them. 

The two most interesting periods of the colonial history of 
America extend from the first settlement of Massachusetts to the 
great English Revolution of 1688, and from thence to the peace of 
1763, that insured the independence of the revolted provinces con- 
stituting the United States. We have now arrived at the termi- 
nation of the first, and must pause to review and contemplate it. 
It is by far the most curious and instructive, inasmuch as during 
that time the colonies were planted ; their constitutions, after 
various alterations, assumed a definite form ; and they were sensi- 
hly afi^ected by every change which the innovations of those days 
introduced into the parent country. If we except Georgia, after- 
ward planted, and Florida, subsequently conquered, the conti- 
nental colonies were now firmly established, and consisted of 
Massachusetts, including Plymouth and Maine, Rhode Island 
(embracing Providence), Connecticut, New Hampshire, New 
Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the 
two Carolinas, and contained about two hundred and fifty 
thousand inhabitants, of which at least seventy-five thousand 
were settled in New England. Their commerce was carried on 
by twenty-five thousand tons of shipping, which was navi- 
gated by two thousand six hundred seamen. 

No regular plan of colonization had ever been adopted. Set- 
tlements formed by accident or caprice were left to languish or 
flourish, as the character of the people, or the nature of the soil 
or climate, happened to operate. They were not trained up, 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 175 

they grew up ; arid being beyond the reach of parental control, 
governed themselves in their ov/n way. Many constitutions 
were drafted and proposed for adoption ; the most arbitrary, im- 
practicable and absurd of which emanated from men like Locke, 
whom England delights to honor as her most distinguished 
sons. It may be some consolation to the admirers of that great 
man to know that modern statesmen, with a wider experience 
and infinitely increased means of information, have exhibited as 
httle skill in legislating for colonists as he did. Several of these 
forms were tried in different places with more or less success, but 
at the time we are now speaking of, though varying from each 
other in many respects, they may be classed under three heads : 
Charter, Proprietary, and Pvoyal Governments. Of the first 
were Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut ; of the sec- 
ond were New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Carohna ; 
and of the third New York, Virginia, and New Hampshire. 

The origin of those charter governments, as we have seen, 
was the surreptitious removal to America, by the Puritans, of a 
patent granted to certain of their number as a trading company, 
whose court was to meet and act in London, and the attempt to 
adapt this incomplete and incompatible instrument to the pur- 
poses of civil government. Subsequently other charters, equally 
inapplicable, were granted, in which not even the unsubstantial 
appearance of sovereignty was reserved to England. They were 
pure democracies. They elected every one of their officers, from 
the highest to the lowest, and displaced them at pleasure, while 
the laws they enacted went into operation without transmission 
to England for approval. The main object in devising a consti- 
tution for a dependency is, or ought to be, as has been veiy well 
expressed by an author of very great weight on this subject, " to 
make the new establishment as useful as possible to the trade of 
the mother country ; to secure its dependence ; to provide for the 
ease, safety and happiness of the settlers ; to protect them from 
their enemies ; and to make an easy and effectual provision to 
preserve them from the tyranny and avarice of their governors, 
or the ill consequences of their own licentiousness ; that they 
should not, by growing into an unbounded liberty, forget that 
they are subjects, or lying under base servitude, have no reason to 
think themselves British subjects." This is all that colonies, 
according to the present and best idens of them, can or ought to be. 



176 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 

The second form in use was the proprietary. It was not then 
difficult for a person who had interest at court to obtain large 
tracts of land not inferior in extent to many kingdoms, and to be 
invested with a power over them very little less than regal, to 
govern by what laws, and to form what sort of constitution he 
pleased. A dependence upon the crown of England was shown 
only by the payment of an Indian arrow, a few skins, or some 
other trifling acknowledgment of the same nature. In these the 
lords of the soil, having derived from the same source the regal 
rights that Counts Palatine enjoyed, stood in the place of the king, 
who possessed within their limits neither the means of effectually 
executing what the supreme legislature had enacted, nor the un- 
defined authority which superintendence may claim. Of these, 
by far the most important were Maryland and Pennsylvania. 
In the former the constitution consisted of a Governor and Coun- 
cil appointed by the proprietors, and an Assembly elected by the 
people. The reservations of the crown amounted only to a nega- 
tive on the nomination of the Governor, the appointment of the 
officers of the customs, and their independence from local control. 
In Pennsylvania the proprietary was under the same restrictions 
that limited that of Maryland, but was more restrained by the 
people, for thmr legislature had but two parts, the Assembly of 
the delegates and the Governor. The latter wanting the great 
influence which the Council gave in other places, found himself 
engaged in a very unequal contest whenever his sentiments differ- 
ed from those of the House. 

In the royal provinces of Virginia, New York, and New Hamp- 
shire, the Governor, the Council, and the Delegates formed a min- 
iature of the King, the Lords and the Commons. The Governoi 
had the honor of representing the body politic of the king ; the 
members of the Upper House awkwardly discharged the twofold 
duty of the peers, by acting as a sort of privy council, and as sen- 
ators in the making of laws. The Delegates engaged the submis- 
sion of the people to what all had assented, since they were 
chosen by themselves. As the House of Assembly was the 
guardian of the privileges of the subject, the Council was consti- 
tuted chiefly to preserve the prerogative of the crown, and to se- 
cure the dependence of the colony ; and the more effectually to 
answer these ends, they were appointed during pleasure only. 
When any bill passed the two Houses, it came before the Gov- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 177 

ernor, who declared or withheld his assent as he thought proper. 
If approved by him, it then acquired the force of a law, although 
still liable at any period within three years to be annulled by 
the royal vote. The local legislature, whether of the charter, the 
proprietary, or the royal government, had but little similarity to 
the Parliament, because the one was merely that of a district, the 
other of an em.pire. The former was, therefore, provincial and 
subordinate ; the latter was universal and sovereign. 

Such were the forms of government that then prevailed, and 
the result was pure democracy in the charter governments. 
There was but a shadow of a shade of royalty in the proprietary 
provinces in the person of a governor who represented, but dis- 
obeyed the palatine, who himself acknowledged the supreme rank, 
but disowned the authority of the king'. Royal governments 
were distinguished for turbulence and disaffection. In all of 
them a refractory people ruled, overawed or bribed the needy re- 
presentative of royalty, who.se silence they knew how to secure, 
as he was dependent on their bounty for his support, and whose 
removal they could always obtain by loud and hollow professions 
of loyalty, accompanied by protestations, that he alone was the 
cause of their distractions. 

The exemption from all control enjoyed by the people of New 
England at once excited the envy, the admiration, and the dis- 
obedience of the other colonists, w^hile the democratic opinions of 
her sectarian population, now fast extending themselves into the 
other parts of the continent, effected a rapid change in the senti- 
ments of the provincials. Virginia, which had been originally 
settled by members of the Church of ifengland, and subsequently 
peopled by the Cavaliers, had ever been distinguished for its 
loyalty. It had been divided into parishes at an early period, and 
supported a regular ministry. By the law of the land there was 
to be a room or house in every plantation "for the worship of 
God, sequestered and set apart for that purpose and not to be for 
any temporal use whatever ; also a place of burial." Absence 
from public worship "without allowable excuse" was punishable 
by the forfeiture of a pound of tobacco, or fifty pounds if the neglect 
was continued for a month. The celebration of divine service 
was to be conformable to the Church of England. No minister 
was to be absent from his parish more than two months, under 
pain of losing half his salary, or the whole of it, together with 

11^ 



178 THE ENGLISH 1 X AM Kill CA. 

his cure, if his iiou-resideuce extended to four months. He who 
disparaged a clergyman without proof was to be fined five hundred 
pounds of tobacco, and to beg his pardon publicly before the whole 
cono-regation. Their salaries were to be paid out of the first 
gathered and best tobacco and corn, and no man was to dispose 
of his crops before paying his dues, under a penalty equal to the 
full amount of his tax. 

It was not then known that a bishop should be the first, and not 
the last to land on the scene of missionary labor ; and the clergy, 
often badly selected, always poorly paid, and far removed from 
ecclesiastical control, were gradually overcome by the intrigues 
and misrepresentations of non-conformity, by the want of proper 
protection from the home government, and the growing licentious- 
ness of a people, whom the climate, the bounty of nature, and the 
facility of acquiring wealth, inclined or seduced into indulgence. 
Amid all the temptations as well as the difiiculties of their situa- 
tion, the long struggles the inhabitants made against the spread 
of democracy, and the warm attachment they evinced to their 
king, and the institutions of the mother country clearly prove 
how loyal and dutiful is the teaching of the establishment, how 
important it is to further her extension, and assist in the endow- 
ment of her parish churches, v t only in America, but in all the 
British possessions abroad, ^vi a still more recent period, it was 
a most consolatory fact, that in the late rebellion in Canada, there 
were no Churchmen among the traitors Mdio have been so merci- 
fully compensated for the inconvenience they sufiered by impris- 
onment or exile. 

Neglected as the clergy were in Virginia, and unmindful as 
they themselves sometimes were of their duty, their labors were 
not without their effect. Spotswood, writing to the Bishop of 
London, says ; " I will do justice to this country : I have observed 
here less swearing and profaneness, less drunkenness and de- 
bauchery, less uncharitable feuds and animosities and less 
knaveries and villanies, than in any part of the world where 
ray lot has been." But at the same time he remarked and 
lamented the growth of republican principles : " The inchna- 
tions of the country," he said, " are rendered mysterious by a 
new and unaccountable humor, which had obtained in several 
counties, of excluding the gentlemen from being burgesses, and 
choosing only persons of mean figure and character." 



THE ENGLISH I i\ AMERICA. 179 

The people of Peimsylvania, a mixed race of Germans, Swedes, 
Dutch, and English adventurers, had no innate sense of loyalty, 
and no common feeling of religious attachment to the church of 
the mother country. Calviuists, Lutherans, Minists, Moravians, 
Independents, Anabaptists, Socinians, Dumplers, and Church- 
men lived in singular harmony together, because the wants of 
nature left them but little time for the indulgence of theological 
discussions ; but they all, with the exception of the last, agreed 
in the opinion that occupancy gave a title to land, and that a 
laborious population had a better right to the soil than a specu- 
lating proprietary. The Quakers, who boasted of their peaceful 
disposition and habits of submission, though not turbulent, became 
troublesome subjects by their passive resistance to all measures 
that they disapproved of, and impeded the machinery of govern- 
ment by refusing to aid in its defense, or contribute to its support 

Maryland, originally settled by Papists, regarded the revolution 
with dread, and had more sympathy with Rome than Eng-land, 
a feeling not a httle increased by the contagious disloyalty, as 
well as the unjust and ungrateful persecution, she experienced 
from the Protestant sectaries, whom she had received and toler- 
ated within her hmits. With regard to both these provinces, as 
well as Carohna, the Lords of the Committee of Colonies repre- 
sented to the king, that " the present circumstances and relation 
they stand in to the govenmient of England is a matter worthy 
of the consideration of Parliament, for bringing these proprietaries 
and dominions under a nearer dependence on the Crown, as his 
Majesty's revenue in the plantations is very much concerned 
herein." 

New York, distracted by the contentions of two parties for 
supremacy, which England could neither compose nor redress, 
partook of the general contagion. The Council reported to the 
Lords of the Committee of Colonies, in July, 1691, "that New 
England had poisoned those Western parts, formerly signal for 
loyal attachment, with her seditious and anti-monarchical prin- 
ciples ;" M'hile Grahame, the Attorney-general, informed them 
that " the principles of loyalty and good affection to the Crown, 
which were inherent to the people of New York, are now extin- 
guished." The contagion soon overspread the remaining colonies, 
because " predisposition of habit naturally attracts infection." 
Guarry, whose office of Surveyor-general of the customs enabled 



180 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

him to know the genuine principles and practice of every province, 
represented officially to the Board of Trade, "that this malignant 
humor is not confined to Virginia, formerly the most remarkable 
for loyalty, but is universally diffused." Very shortly after this 
period, so rapid had been the spread of these anti-monarchical 
opinions, that the governor writes from New York : "Now the 
mask is thrown off. The delegates have called in question the 
Council's share in the legislature, trumped up an inherent right, 
declared the powers granted by letters patent to be against law, 
and have but one short step to make toward what I am unwilling 
to name. The Assemblies claiming all the privileges of a House 
of Commons, and stretching them even beyond what they were 
ever imagined to be in England, should the Councilors by the 
same rule lay claim to the rights of a House of Peers, here is a 
body co-ordinate with, claiming equal powers, and consequently 
independent of, the great council of the realm ; yet this is the 
plan of government they all aim at, and make no scruple to own. 
But as national and sovereign empire is to be exercised by them 
that have the balance of dominion in the nation, so provincial or 
dependent empire is not to be exercised by them that have the 
balance of dominion in the province, because that would bring 
the government, from being subordinate, to be national and in- 
dependent." 

As no consistent or well-digested plan was prepared to remedy 
these evils, recourse was had to expostulation, to issuing peremp- 
tory orders to governors, and to threats of invoking parliamentary 
interposition. These measures only aggravated the evils they 
intended to repress, for commands and menaces were alike disre- 
garded where it was well known that there was no power what- 
ever to enforce them ; and the authority that was at first evaded 
or disobeyed, at last became every where the subject of ridicule 
or contempt. 



CHAPTER VI. 

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS UNDER THE CHARTER. 

Office, Duties, and Modes of Appointment of the Charter Governors — Court of 
Assistants — Ori£?in and Growth of the House of Delei^ates — Jealousy of the 
People as to the Power of Governor and Matristrates — Code of Laws described 
— Specimens of the Sentences of the Courts — Perfect Equality secured by 
their Laws and Institutions — Account of Townsliips and Town Meetinirs— 
Counties, Towns, and General Court present a Miniature of a great Republic 
— Union of the Colonies, the Foundation of the Federal Union of the States — 
General System of popular Education prepares the People for Self government. 

We have seen in the foregoing chapters, that in civil and 
ecolesiastical matters, Massachusetts and the oiher adjoining 
colonies, known as New England, asserted and maintained total 
independence. An attentive consideration of these institutions 
leads us to the conclusion that they had ever in view the project 
of adhering as nearly as possible to a democratic form of govern- 
ment. 

From the moment of their landing in America, and taking 
possession of the country, though they preserved a friendly inter- 
course with England, the colonists extinguished all obedience, 
and severed all poHtical cormection with it. They set up a 
government of their own, based on popular election, and, as free- 
men under the charter, claimed and enjoyed the right of model- 
ing their constitution in their own way, and appointing their own 
officers, to exercise for a limited period executive and legislative 
functions. Their republicanism was not theoretical, but practi- 
cal ; not having a predominant character of self-government, but 
possessing no other ingredient but the will of the people. Jealous 
of gubernatorial influence, they delegated as small a share of 
authority to the governor as possible, who was chosen annually, 
and was little more than chairman of the assistants. He had 
the power of convening the legislature upon urgent occasions ; 
but this he only enjoyed in common with the deputy-governor, 
and the majority of the councilors, either of whom could com- 
mand their attendance if he neglected, or did not see fit to do so. 



182 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

He voted with the assistants, but merely as a member of the 
court, his opinion having no more weight necessarily attached to 
it than that of another individual, unless there was an equal 
division, which entitled him to a casting vote ; but he could not 
adjourn, prorogue, or dissolve them, acts which were reserved for 
the majority only. He issued commissions to civil and military 
officers ; but the former were appointed by the court, and the 
latter generally elected by their companies or regiments. 

The oldest dispute in the colony related to the grounds and 
limits of the governor's authority. At Boston, on occasions of 
dividing the town lands, " men of the inferior sort were chosen." 
The doctrine of rotation was asserted, even to the neglect of 
Winthrop, " lest there should be a governor for life." When one 
of the elders proposed that the office should be held in that man- 
ner, the deputies immediately resolved that no magistrate of any 
kind should be elected for more than a year. The justices once 
assembling, in a sort of aristocratic caucus, nominated several 
persons for the choice of the people, but they took care to neglect 
every one of the candidates thus proposed. On the other hand, 
when one of the ministers attempted to dissuade the freemen from 
selecting certain persons who were obnoxious to the clergy, they 
disliked the interference of the adviser, more than they approved 
of the doctrine of frequent change, and returned them almost 
without an exception.* So deeply rooted and widely spread was 
the prejudice against a life tenure, that it may be said to have 
prevailed throughout New England. Connecticut, by a distinct 
declaratory clause in its fundamental constitutions, carefully 
guarded against any such result. 

The advantage that democracy gains by making provision for 
public officers annually, and not attaching fixed salaries to their 
situations, was very early perceived. In a contested election for 
governor, in the year 1641, Mr. Bellingham was chosen over his 
rival Winthrop, by a majority of six votes. The result was not 
agreeable to the General Court ; and the first order they made, 
after proceeding to business, was to repeal a standing law, allow- 
ing him a yearly salary of £100. This precedent they afterward 
adopted, as we shall presently see, with great success, in embar- 
rassing all the subsequent representatives of royalty, until the 
actual breaking out of hostilities. 

* Bancroft; Winthrop. 



THE ENGLISH IN AxMERICA. 1S3 

The assistants or councilors were annually chosen by the whole 
body of freemen in the colony. They constituted, with the 
governor, at the first settlement, the Avhole, and subsequently one 
of the two branches of the Legislature, and were also the Supreme 
Court in all civil and criminal causes, except in those instances 
in which an appeal was allowed to the General Assembly. When 
the Lower House came into existence, the members chose the 
Speaker, and proceeded to business, not only without presenting 
him to the governor for his approbation, but without even ac- 
quainting him with the result of their election, or the name of 
the person whom they had selected. 

In the first little republic, every thing was based, as far as the 
freemen were concerned, on general and often-recurring elections. 
It was a fresh and young shoot ft-om the tree of liberty, and grew 
with all the vigor of youth into wild luxuriance, that defied alike 
the pruning-knife or the training hand of cautious experience, 
until it overran the whole country. By a natural consequence of 
causes, the operation of which was not then at all understood, the 
Upper House became more dependent on the popular voice than 
the lower branch, inasmuch as it was chosen by the freemen of 
the w^hole commonwealth, and the other by those resident in the 
several districts. The assistants, therefore, had a larger constit- 
uency to conciliate and represent, and were consequently more 
under observation, and more exposed in the conflicts of party, to 
the ingratitude of unstable friends, or the rancor of inflamed 
opponents. As sanctity of manners and soundness of doctrine 
were strong recommendations to popular favor^ they became every 
day more expert in the language of cant, and more obsequious to 
their partisans the ministers, until at last they were unable to 
stem the torrent of fanaticism, whose channels they had so in- 
dustriously widened and deepened themselves. Stripes, confisca- 
tions, banishment, and death, were liberally awarded to heresy, 
to gratify the ignorant zeal of the mass, and the vindictive malice 
of the clergy, who considered dissent from their opinions as far 
more criminal than rape, burglary, or highway robbery — the one 
being punishable, if persisted in, with death ; and the others en- 
titled to those lesser penalties that were awarded to ofifenses not 
capital. 

Men who fail in obedience themselves, generally compensate 
for the defect by extorting it from others, A stubborn, unyielding 



1S4 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

temper is the cause of these peculiarities. While the Puritans 
of New Eiigiaud made the world ring with their accusations 
against the tyranny of Laud, they did not disdain to make use 
of the instruments of despots, to enforce conformity to their own 
views. For this purpose, they passed a law on the subject of 
torture, which, though nominally prohibiting, authorizes its appli- 
cation, and regulates its use It begins by forbidding recourse to 
be had to it generally, but excepts any case in which the criminal 
is first fully convicted by clear and sufficient evidence; after 
which, if it be apparent, from the nature of the case^ that there 
are confederates with him. he may be tortured ; yet not with such 
instruments as are barbarous and inhuman. 

The rigor of justice extended itself as well to the protection 
of tlie rights of property as to the moral habits of the people. A 
remarkable instance of this is shown in the power given to 
creditors over the persons of their debtors. The law admitted of 
a freeman's being sold for service to discharge his liabilities, 
though it would not allow of the sacrifice of his time by being 
kept in prison, unless some estate was concealed. 

It was owing to a jealutu-y of magisterial authority that a 
compilation of the laws was sought for with avidity by the 
people. They were disinclined to invest the justices with any 
discretionary power whatever, in apportioning punishments to the 
circumstances of each particular case, and required an exact 
penalty to be attached to every offense, preferring to lose the 
benefit of mitigation to incm-ring the dangers of arbitrary de- 
cisions. In order to appease the murmurs of dissatisfaction, the 
M^ork w-as undertaken in earnest, and after fourteen years of 
deliberation of committees formed of magistrates, ministers, and 
elders, a code was produced and ratified by the Legislature. 
These laws, ninety-eight in number, were named " fundament- 
als," or " body of liberties." This curious compilation com- 
mences with a general statement of the rights of the inhabitants, 
in seventeen articles, of wdiich several may now be found em- 
bodied in the Constitution of the Great Repubhc, and the State 
Bills of Rights. Next follow " rights, rules and liberties in 
judicial matters," forty-one in number ; " liberties concerning 
freemen," twenty in all, and chiefly referring to the civil polity 
of the colony. Two are devoted to the liberties of women. 
Liberties of children, and of servants, are each contained in four 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 185 

articles. Liberties of foreigners and strangers occupy three addi- 
tional ones, and the "brute creation" is protected by two. 
Capital laws inflict the punishment of death on twelve offenses, 
and the whole concludes with an account of the liberties the 
Lord has given His churches. 

It is a most extraordinary production, and will well repay the 
labor of perusing. That it was unwillingly compiled and pub- 
lished is well known ; but this compulsory task was so adroitly 
performed, that most clauses contain some qualifications to render 
them inoperative. Thus every church may choose its minister, 
provided he be able, pious and orthodox. Private meetings are 
allowed to all sorts of Christian people, " if they be without 
offense as for number, time, place, and other circumstances." 
" There shall be no captivity among us," but the slave-trade is 
established by the exception, unless it be captives taken in just 
wars, those who sell themselves, or such as are sold to us. 
Liberty and hospitality is granted to all foreigners who profess 
the true Christian religion. No inhabitants to be compelled to 
go beyond the jurisdiction in any offensive, but only in vindictive 
and defensive wars, and so on.* It contains not the most distant 
allusion to the laws of England, since it was compiled chiefly 
from the Jewish system, which was adopted because it had been 
given to an elect people ; and the common law and statutes of 
their fathers were no more regarded in Massachusetts than in 

* Apparel was regulated by these rigid magistrates as well as morals. In 
the year 1649 the following circular was sent through the country by the magis- 
trates : " Forasmuch as the wearing of long hair, after the manner of the Rus- 
sians [Cavaliers?) and bai'barous Indians, has begun to invade New England, 
contrary to the rule of God's word, which says it is a shame for a man to wear 
long hair, as also the commendable custom generally of all the godly of our 
nation, until within this few years. "We, the magistrates who have subscribed 
this paper (for the showing of our own innocency in this behalf) do declare and 
manifest our dislike and detestation against the wearing of such long hair, as 
against a thing uncivil and unmanly, whereby men do deforme themselves and 
offend sober and modest men, and doe corrupt good manners. We doe therefore 
earnestly entreat all the elders of this jurisdiction, as often as they shall see 
cause, to manifest their zeal against it in their public ailministrations, and to 
take care that the members of their respective churches be not defiled tliere. 
with ; that so such as shall prove obstinate, and will not reform themselves, may 
have got God and man to witness against them. 

".To. Endicott. Governor. 

"Thos. Dudley, Deputy-Governor. 
" And others. 
"The 3d month, 6th day, 1649" 



186 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

Germany or France, as they were deemed inapplicable to their 
condition. They declined to administer justice in the name of 
the kin<?, because they did not like the appellation nor admit his 
jurisdiction, but preferred to use the more appropriate term of " the 
established authority," since they affected the state of a common- 
wealth.* I^hese ordinances were, however, of their own making as 
well as their Constitution, and both were the acts of the people. 

They held the maxim Vox j^opuli, vox Dei to be equally true 
in politics and religion. Public opinion in a free country, when 
rightly understood, exercises a most salutary and necessary influ- 
ence over the officers of government ; but if it be so closely applied 
as to absorb all independence, it ceases to be a check and degen- 
erates into tyranny. It does not limit and circumscribe authority 
by constitutional guards, it annihilates it. 

Equality of condition was secured by a law regulating the de- 
scent and distribution of the real and personal property of intes- 
tates. The exclusive claim of any one heir was not listened to, 
but an equal division was made among all, reserving only to the 
eldest son a double portion, to reward him for his labor and assist- 
ance in acquiring the estate, and to enable him to stand in hco 
fare7ith to the family when deprived of its natural guardian. 

* While they were witliout a code or body of law."?, their sentences seem to 
have been adapted to the circumstances of a large family of children and 
servants, as will appear from the following, which, from among many others of 
the same sort, I have extracted from the public records : 

"John Blastowe, for stealing four baskets of corn from the Indians, is ordered 
to return them eight baskets, to be fined five pounds, and hereafter to be called 
by the name of Josiah, instead of Mr., as formerly." " Sergeant Perkins is 
ordered to carry forty tmfs to the fort for being drunk." " Captain Lovell to be 
admonished to take heed of light carriage." Thomas Petit for suspicion of slan- 
der, idleness, and stubbornness, to be severely whipped and kept in hold." 
" Catherine, the wife of Richard Cornish, found suspicious of incontinency, 
seriously admonished to take heed." — Huichinson, vol. i. p. 436. 

The Connecticut laws, which were framed and executed by people vastly 
inferior in ability and education to those of Massachusetts, are conspicuous for 
their harshness as well as their absurdity : 

"No. 17. No one shall run of a Sabbath-day, or walk in his garden or else- 
where, except reverently to and from church. 

"No. 18. No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep houses, cut 
hair, or shave on the Sabbath-day. 

"No. 19. No husband shall kiss his vrife, and no mother shall kiss her child 
upcn the Sabbath-day. 

'No. 31. No one shall read Common Prayer, keep Christmas or Saint's days, 
make mince pies, dance, or play on any instrument of music, except the drum, 
the trumpet, and the Jews' harp." 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 187 

This funtl amenta! law in a country where people generally marry 
early and have numerous children, efTectually destroys the natural 
tendency of" property to accumulate in the hands of a few. 
Hereditary claims were also rejected, their public officers being- 
all annually chosen from the body of freemen, without regard to 
distinctions. Old associations and early prejudices in favor of 
rank and fortune, though theoretically disclaimed, were not inop- 
erative at first in the choice of the governor and assistants ; but 
they gradually gave way to the principles they had laid down for 
themselves, and in time station or family connections were found 
to be aristocratical barriers to public favor. At an early date 
perfect equality was aimed at. Not more than half a dozen gen- 
tlemen took the title of Esquire, nor more than four or five out of 
a hundred freemen that of Mr., although they were, in general, 
men of substance. Goodman and Goodwife were the common 
appellation. Destroying the distinctions of rank, conferring equal 
rights on all the freemen, and sanctioning a distribution of real es- 
tates among the children of intestates, were the foundation and sup- 
port of the first, as they now are of the second American Republic. 
Their militia service, though regulated by law, was enforced 
by officers chosen by the companies, and placed under the com- 
mand of a general nominated by the freemen, but approved and 
appointed by the court. 

The principle of self-government was claimed and exercised by 
the inhabitants of townships, subdivisions of counties correspond- 
ing in some respects to English parishes. These little local com- 
munities possessed certain corporate rights. The people assembled 
together, and voted sums of money to provide for the poor, the 
support of religion, the erection of public buildings, the repair of 
highways, the maintenance of police, and similar objects ; and 
also for the purpose of electing assessors, collectors, justices, and 
select men. The duty of these last officers was to see the law 
of the land ob.served, and especially to enforce the orders of the 
people in all matters relating to the good government and internal 
management of the township. They were also charged with the 
direction of the education of the rising generation, the support of 
the ministers, and the mode of apportioning and collecting the 
sum ordered by the general court to be raised within their juris- 
diction for State purposes.* 

* See Wonder Working Providence, Sion's Saviour, p. 191. 



188 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

A law, passed at a very early date (about 1636), gave a pe- 
culiar character to these townships. It prohibited the erection 
of dwelling-houses in any new town at a greater distance than 
half a mile from the church Lands, in consequence, were seldom 
granted to individuals, but only to companies, associated together 
for settling a plantation. The New England rural districts were 
thus made villages, differing in that respect from those of Virginia, 
whence resulted a concentrated population. This arrangement 
was originally made for the religious organization of the settlers ; 
but as it produced combination, it effected in the end most import- 
ant political as well as social results. 

The town meeting was a place where matters were publicly 
discussed, whether they related to the votes and conduct of rep- 
resentatives in the General Court, or were only of parochial inter- 
est. They were normal schools for politicians, where aspirants 
for popularity railed against the salaries and extravagancies of the 
commonwealth, declaimed on the rights and privileges of freemen, 
extolled the value and importance of the charter, drew frightful 
pictures of the profligacy of princes, and their wicked attempts to 
enslave the people, and by their pompous orations encouraged 
their countrymen to prefer death to dependence. Questions of 
privilege, that occasionally arose between the different branches 
of the legi.slature, were here most learnedly discussed, as well as 
matters of doctrine and discipline, that sometimes disturbed the 
churches. Points that have puzzled divines and philosophers, 
were disposed of with great ease and fluency, and the applicability 
of texts of Scripture to every imaginable case most clearly demon- 
strated.* The expediency of uniting with the other colonies, and 
the plans of attack and defense in the French and Indian wars, 
being of more interest, were treated with less cant, and more 
knowledge and discretion. In short, in those little democratic 
assemblies were trained the men, who were afterward to maintain 
their rights in the General Court, 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, therefore, was a minia- 
ture of the great Confederation. The General Government and 

* The General Court being- much agitated on the question of the right of veto 
in the assistants, called upon Mr. Cotton, the great divine of the day, to preach 
on the subject. He chose the following most pertinent text (Hag. ii, 4): "Yet 
now be strong, O Zerubbabe), said the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of 
Josedech, the High Priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, and work: 
for I am with you." — Hub. Hi?t. of New England. 



THE Ex\GL[SH IN AMERICA. 189 

Supreme Judical Establishment, having jurisdiction over the 
whole country, centred at Boston, as those of the United States 
now do at Washington.* Every township, as we have seen, 
was, to a certain extent, for all internal matters, independ- 
ent, made by-laws for its own inhabitants, regulated its own 
fiscal and territorial affairs, and was represented in the State 
legislature at the capital. Massachusetts was, in fact, a union, 
of many little sovereign communities, with a federal govern- 
ment, composed of district delegates, with the power of enacting 
laws for all, in those matters in which the co-operation of all 
was necessary, and without which authority could neither be 
respected nor maintained. The supreme power of the common- 
wealth, whether for defense, revenue, or legislation, was indis- 
pensable for the welfare, if not for the existence of the state. 
The uncontrolled management of their local affairs was not less 
essential to the freedom and the independence of the townships. 

It M^as as pirited and able sketch, which the masterly hands 
of modern politicians have filled up, without destroying the like- 
ness, and its features are all discernible in the inimitable Consti- 
tution of the United States. The resemblance is most striking 
in the confederation entered into in 1643, already described, 
under the designation — " The United Colonies of New England," 
consisting of delegates from Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecti- 
cut, and New Haven, the prototype of the great American 
Legislature of the present day. It suggested the idea of all those 
Conventions, whether provincial or continental, that preceded the 
war of independence, as well as the Congress. It even contained 
some articles, now to be found in the American Constitution ; 
namely, the delivery of runaway slaves and fugitives, and the 
provision that judgments of courts of law and probate of wills 
in each colony, should have full force and effect in all the others. 
It carefully guarded the separate privileges of each contracting 
province ; and thus the doctrine of State Rights was first broached 
and acted upon two hundred years ago. 

But the first settlers of Massachusetts laid the basis of theil 



* Under pretense of choosing a geographical centre for Congress, American 
statesmen pi'ovided against the danger of being ovei'awed or even influenced 
by the mob of a large city. W^ashington is little more than a small town, com- 
posed of public buildings and hotels — a simple an*angement that would strip 
Paris of its variety and insecurity. 



190 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

freedom on a broader, better, and surer foundation, than any of 
those institutions to which I have referred — on a welJ-reguhited, 
well-proportioned, and general education. Montesquieu, in his 
"Spirit of Laws,"* says that the principle of a republic is 
"virtue," which he defined politically, to be "respect for the 
laws, and a love for our country." In this sense, virtue is found 
nowhere so strong as in the United States. The frightful tales 
related by travelers, of Lynching and summary justice inflicted by 
excited mobs, are occurrences peculiar to territories bordering on 
civilization. In all ages, and in all countries, barbarians and 
outlaws resort to fastnesses, or dwell on the confines of the desert, 
in the inaccessible depths of the wilderness. In America, these 
regions are the resort of their own criminals, and the refiise of 
Europe ; but it M'ould be the height of prejudice, or injustice, not 
to give the population at large the credit they deserve, for respect 
for the laws.t They are a sensible and practical people, and 
feel that the safety and durability of their institutions depend 
upon this submissive obedience. They are aware that they are 
their own laws, enacted by themselves, and that if they dis- 
appoint their expectation, they have a better remedy in repealing, 
• than in violating them. They know instinctively, what that 
great philoso})her had discovered by reasoning and research, that, 
in a republican government, the whole power of education is 
required. Most nobly has this duty been discharged. 

Scarcely had the ground in the neighborhood of Boston been 
cleared, when the General Court founded a college, which they 
afterward called Harvard, in token of gratitude to a clergyman 
of that name, who bequeathed a considerable sum of money to it. 
The town of Newtown in which it was situated, was denomina- 
ted Cambridge, the name of the ahna mater of many of the 
principal people in the colony. In this respect, they showed a 
far greater knowledge of the world, and of the proper course of 
education, than the inhabitants of the present British colonies. 
They first established a university, and then educated down- 

* Spirit of Laws, Vol. i. Book 4, Chap. 5. 

t Something very like Lynching was attempted in London lately, at Barclay's 
brewery, on Marshal Haynau ; and although hundreds were concerned in it, tlie 
Government were unable or unwilling to bring the offenders to justice. It is 
not the fashion in England to hang traitors. Loyalty is becoming a rare offense, 
and excites the irrepressible ire of the "most enlightened citizens" of the great- 
est city in Europe. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 191 

ward to the common schools, as auxiliary seminaries, which 
were thus supplied with competent teachers ; while duly qualifi- 
ed professional men and legislators, were simultaneously provided 
for the state. In Canada, there is an unfriendly feeling toward 
these institutions, which people, who play upon popular prejudice 
or ignorance, endeavor to foster, by representing them as engross- 
ed by the sons of the rich, who are able to pay the expense of 
their own instruction, without assistance from the public treasury ; 
and that all that is thus bestowed, is so much withdrawn from 
the more deserving but untrained children of the poor. 

Six years after the arrival of Winthrop, the General Court 
voted a sum, equal to a year's rate of the whole colony, toward 
the erection of this college. The infant institution was a favorite. 
Connecticut and Plymouth, and the towns in the east, contrib- 
uted little offerings to promote its success. The gift of the rent 
of a ferry was a proof of the care of the state ; and once at least, 
every family in each of the colonies gave to the college at Cam- 
bridge twelve-pence, or a peck of corn, or its value in unadulter- 
ated wampumpeag,* while the magistrates and wealthier men. 
were profuse in their liberality. The college, in return, exerted 
a powerful influence in forming the early character of the coun- 
try. As soon as this institution was fairly in operation, provision 
was made, by the allotment of land, local assessment, and other- 
wise, for elementary schools ; " it being one chief project of that 
old deluder Satan," says the preamble to this venerable law, " to 
keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former 
times keeping them in an unknown tongue ; so in these latter 
times, by persuading men from the use of tongues, so that at least 
the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded with 
false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers, and that learning may 
not be buried in the graves of our fathers." 

It was ordered in all the Puritan colonies, " that every town- 

* "Wampum was considered as the Indian money, one fathom was worth five 
shillings. Their white money they called wampum, which signified white ; 
their black suckatckock snki, signifying black. A traveler thus describes it : 
"In my way I had opportunity of seeing the method of making wampum. It 
is made of clam-shell, containing within two colors, purple and white, and in form 
not unlike a thick oyster-sliell. The process of manufacturing it is very simple. 
It is just clipped to a proper size, which is of a small oblong parallelepiped, then 
dulled, and afterward ground to a round smooth surface and polished. The pur- 
ple wampum is much more valuable than the white, a very small part of the 
shell being that color. — Thatcher's History of Pli/mouth. 



192 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

ship, after the Lord had increased them to the number of fifty 
householders, shall appoint one to teach all children to write and 
read ; and where any town shall increase to one hundred families, 
they shall set up a grammar-school, the masters thereof being 
able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the Uni- 
versity." The joint operations of both gave a pre-eminence to 
the people of Massachusetts, which they maintain to this day. 
At a later period, this laudable example was followed in almost 
every part of the country, now called the United States ; and in 
no respect is their wisdom more conspicuous than in thus follow- 
ing the example of their forefathers. 

Here it may be both convenient and useful to pause, and com- 
pare the Constitution of the first New England Republics, and 
that of the great Federal Government of the present day. The 
introduction of democracy was the work of the Puritans. It 
went infinitely further than that of the revolutionists. The lat- 
ter was conservative. The admirable Constitution of the United 
States is less simple in its structure, but safer in its operation; 
less democratic in its forrn, but confers and insures more freedom, 
and is better provided with appropriate checks to guard the 
independence of the people, and protect it from its own excess. 
It echoes public sentiment, but the tone is subdued and softened 
by repetition. The unmistakable voice of the people is heard ; 
but the medium through which it passes, mitigates its overpow- 
ering sound, and it is so modified that it can be distinguished 
with ease, and listened to with safety. The statesmen who drew 
up that master-piece of wisdom, w^ere, however, greatly indebted 
to their ancestors, for exhibiting to them their imperfect experi- 
ment in self-government, for all or the greater part of their in- 
stitutions may be traced to those of the first settlers. Universal 
sufirage, annual parliaments, and yearly governors, are more 
demooratical than the practical, rational, and enlightened de- 
scendants of the New Englanders thought conducive to the de- 
liberative character of Congress, or compatible with the peace and 
harmony of the people. 

The first idea of a Congress was suggested, as Ave have seen, 
by the Confederation of the united colonies of New England, 
which was in existence for about forty years. It consisted of 
delegates from the associated provinces, formed but one assembly, 
and was presided over by one of their number, chosen by them- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 193 

selves. With the records of this body before them, and a Legis- 
lature in the old Puritan plantations, consisting of a Governor, 
Assistants, or Second House, and an Assembly, all chosen annually, 
it is natural that they should adopt one or the other as their 
model. Perceiving the defects of each, they blended the best 
parts of both, and made such improvements as were necessary. 
It was for the wisdom of these additions, not the invention, that 
they are entitled to the gratitude of their countrymen, and the 
admiration of mankind. 

The governor, when elective in the old colonies, was chosen 
directly by the people. The framers of the Constitution adopted 
the principle of popular choice ; but to avoid danger, vested it in 
electors chosen by the inhabitants, under the direction of each 
State. A very wise and salutary measure. This body is again, 
secured against corruption by being chosen only within thirty- 
four days of the election. In the old provinces, the governors 
were annual officers ; but they had no foreign policy to pursue, 
and their territorial jurisdiction was small. To preserve the 
principle of fresh appeals to the people, and at the same time 
insure consistency in the councils of the nation, the President's 
period of service was extended to four years. 

In New England, the governors were often constrained to 
yield to the House of Delegates, because they had the power to 
give, increase, diminish, or withhold their salary. The new Con- 
stitution provides that he shall receive a stated sum, that can be 
neither augmented or reduced during his term of office. To 
make him a constituent branch of the legislature, and give him 
a voice equally potential with either or both of the other two 
chambers, was not only incompatible with their ideas of equahty, 
but did not appear to be demanded by any indispensable neces- 
sity. It was obvious, however, that he ought to possess the 
means of defending the executive department, as well as the just 
balance of the Constitution against usurpation. He was there- 
fore invested with a qualified negative. When a bill has passed 
both Houses, that he disapproves of, he returns it, with his objec- 
tions, to the Chamber in which it originated. If both Houses, 
after reconsideration, adhere to their bill, by a vote in each of 
two-thirds of its members, it then becomes law, the quahfied 
veto notwithstanding. 

In the old compact of " Confederation of the United Colonies,'* 

I 



194 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

under the first republics of New England, we have seen that 
there was but one Chamber, as now subsists in France. The 
experience of mankind* has unequivocally condemned the prac- 
tice of leaving all legislation in the hands of any one unchecked 
body of men. The hasty violence and constant instability of 
their proceedings have ever shown that they are unsafe deposito- 
ries ojf power. Warned by the failures of the Italian repubhcs, 
which were all thus constituted, and having before them the 
example of the royal provincial governments, in which there 
were two branches, they very wisely made Congress to consist of 
two Chambers, the Senate and House of Representatives. Based 
on popular election, and adhering as closely as possible to the 
principle that the people were the source of all power, the 
Senate was so constructed as not to be a mere duphcate of the 
Lower Chamber. It consists of two members from each State, 
chosen, not by the people at large, but by the legislature, for six 
years, and, by an admirable arrangement, one-third vacate their 
seats biennially, by which means no very violent or sudden 
change can take place, and a large number of experienced men 
are always retained, well versed in the policy of the country, and 
the forms of the House. The conduct, dignity, knowledge, and 
authority of the Senate are the best evidence of the skill of those 
who made the salutary regulations that have produced this 
result. 

The power to make treaties is lodged jointly with the Pres- 
ident and the House. Better councilors it would be impossible 
to select for him. They possess the advantage of being easily 
assembled, and governed by steady, systematic views, feel a due 
sense of national character, and can act with promptitude and 
firmness. 

In the old republic all officers were elective. In an immense 
country like the United States, it was obvious that to have 
recourse to the whole people on every occasion of a vacancy, if 
not impracticable, M^ould be attended with ruinous delay, and 
greatly embarrass public business. The difficulty lay in know- 
ing to whom to give this vast patronage. To place it jn the 
hands of the President alone, would necessarily give him the 
means of corruption ; to intrust it to the Senate, would render 

* See Adams's Defense of the American Constitution, vol. in. p. 502. Also 
Kent's Commentaries. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 195 

him contemptible, as he could have no voice in the selection of 
those officers, for the performance of whose duties, as the head 
of the executive, he was responsible. They obviated both objec- 
tions, by giving him the sole powder of nomination, and the right 
of approval or rejection to the Senate. Nomination is, for all 
practical purposes, equivalent to appointment ; but the revision 
to which it is subject imposes on the President the necessity of 
avoiding favoritism, intrigue, and a careless use of patronage. 

In no case, perhaps, is the advantage of this system more per- 
ceptible than in the judiciary of the United States. It is impos- 
sible to conceive a more admirable mode of selecting judges. 
In England the appointment rests with the minister of the day, 
and the choice is not always such as meets the approbation of 
the bar or the public. In Canada the general rule used to be, 
ccBteris paribus, that the senior member of the profession was 
held to possess the best claim to preferment. Even that mode 
is open to serious objections, but the present practice is beyond 
comparison the worst to be found in any country. A seat on the 
bench is now a political prize, and the dominant party claims it 
for partisans. None of those high qualifications so essential to 
the efficient and respectable discharge of judicial duties, neither 
talent, learning, nor integrity are recommendations equal to polit- 
ical services. High and honorable as the office of judge is in 
England, it is infinitely more so in the Great Republic. The 
commission is awarded neither by the personal friendship nor 
political sympathy of the President, but by the deliberate choice 
of that officer and the concurrence and approbation of all the 
States in the Union, as expressed by the collective voice of their 
Senators. Well may that country be proud of its judiciary, when 
so constructed ; and the judges of an appointment that rests 
solely on great abilities, undoubted rectitude of conduct, and 
universal respect. 

The House of Representatives is composed of delegates of the 
several States. In the old republic the elections were annual ; 
an improvement has been made in the new by extending the 
term to two years ; a period which the best informed men in the 
country think still too short. As this is called the popular 
branch, its members being chosen directly by the people, while 
the Senate is the result of a double election, and less under their 
immediate control, it possesses the exclusive right of originating 



196 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

all bills for raising revenue, which is the only privilege it enjoys 
in its legislative character not participated in by the Senate, and 
even money-bills can be amended by them. The two Houses 
are an entire and perfect check upon each other, and one of them 
can not even adjourn, during the session of Congress, for more 
than three or four days, without the consent of the other, nor to 
any other place than that in which both shall be sitting.* 

It is not within the scope of this work to enter more at large 
on this subject. It was stated, in an early part of this volume, 
that republicanism in America was not the result of the Revolu- 
tion, but that it existed there from its first settlement. The 
whole of this historical narrative clearly proves that assertion. 
It was subsequently said, that in its original form it was infin- 
itely more democratic than the present Constitution of the United 
States ; and to illustrate that position I have drawn up the fore- 
going brief comparison of the leading features of each. In the 
course of our examination, succinct as it necessarily must be, 
enough appears to exhibit the delicate skill, consummate knowl- 
edge, enlarged views, and patriotism of the statesmen who 
framed the Federal Constitution. Nothing by any possibility 
could be devised more suited to the situation, feelings, wants, 
habits, and preconceived opinions of the people. It has conferred 
happiness and safety on many millions : may it ever continue to 
do so. Esto perpetuo. 

* See Kent's Commentaries, vol. i. p. 223. 



CHAPTER VII. 

DEMOCRATIC FORM OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. ITS EFFECT ON 

POLITICAL OPINIONS. 

Different Course pursued by the Church and Dissenters at the Reformation- 
Difference between Presbyterians, Independents, and Puritans— Three kinds 
of Puritans— Their Doctrines and Form of Ecclesiastical Government— Sin- 
gular Valedictory Address of the Puritans to the Members of the Church of 
England — Extraordinary Union of Church and State among the former- 
Cause of present political Unity of Action between Dissenters and Romanists. 

: While the people on the continent of Europe were engaged 
in the work of reformation, the Church of England, with equal 
zeal and more discretion, set herself about the great task of 
restoration. She had never voluntarily submitted to Rome, nor 
fully admitted her authority over her. She had been previously 
encroached upon from time to time, owing to the imbecility or 
contentions of her princes, but had never failed either to resist or 
protest, to assert her exclusive jurisdiction, or to claim the exer- 
cise of her ancient usages. 

If not anterior to that of Pvome, the AngUcan Church was at 
least coeval with it, being founded, as there is substantial ground 
for believing, by one of the Apostles. At a very early date, it 
had its orders of bishops, priests, and deacons, and subsisted, as 
independent in its action as it was isolated in position, for a 
period of nearly six hundred years, before the grasping and aspir- 
ing spirit of Rome attempted to seduce or force it into an ac- 
knowledgment of her supremacy. At the close of the sixth 
century, about the year 596, Gregory I. sent Augustine the 
monk to demand the submission of the English prelates, who, 
with their flocks, had gradually been driven westward by the 
barbarians that had invaded the island ; and as these successful 
emigrants were heathens, he was at the same time instructed to 
Christianize them, if possible. In the first object of his mission 
he wholly failed, having received a decided refusal from the seven 
bishops, who assembled in Worcestershire to hear his proposition. 
In the latter (the conversion of the conquerors) he was more suo- 



198 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

cessful, and immediately assumed jurisdiction over his proselytes. 
The Papal power having thus obtained a footing, never after- 
ward ceased its endeavors to enlarge it upon every practicable 
occasion, or plausible pretense.*^ 

To shake off the errors and corruptions of Romanism, and pre- 
serve what was sanctioned by the usage of the apostolic age, was 
a work of great labor, and at the same time great delicacy. The 
task of the Church, unlike that of the impetuous and headstrong 
body of innovators who called themselves Protestant Reformers, 
was not to pull down and reconstruct, but thoroughly to repair 
and completely restore the ancient edifice in all its beauty, sim- 
plicity, and proportion. Nobly was this arduous and important 
duty performed. Search was made for the forms of the olden 
time, before the irruption of the Roman priesthood ; for the 
prayers in all the ancient sees were not alike, as each bishop had, 
according to primitive custom, the power of regulating the litur- 
gy of his own diocese. From these authentic sources was com- 
piled with great labor and infinite patience the Book of Common 
Prayer, which has extorted from one of the most learned and 
eminent Dissenting divines of this century this extraordinary 
eulogium : " That it is by far the greatest uninspired work 
extant."! 

Romanists themselves, when permitted to exercise an inde- 
pendent judgment, admitted its unexceptionable character and 
great beauty, and joined in its use for more than twelve years. 
Two of the Popes, Paul and Pius IV., went so far as to offer to 
sanction it if Queen Elizabeth would acknowledge the suprem- 
acy of the Pope. Upon her refusal she was excommunicated, in 
1569, and from that period British Papists became schismatics. 

The English Dissenting Reformers, though not so ignorant as 
those of the Continent, were, with some distinguished exceptions, 
in general violent and vulgar fanatics. They were but little 
acquainted with the history or antiquity of their own primitive 
church, and cared still less about it ; all they knew was, that 
even when purified and restored, it still resembled that of Ptome 
too much to please them. As they had rejected the Pontiff^ they 
saw no reason to obey a bishop ; and it was obvious to the mean- 
est capacity, that if the regular clergy were abolished, tithes 

* Beunet on Common Prayer. Theophilus Anglicanus. f Hall. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 199 

would necessarily cease also. So convenient and so unscrupulous 
a party were soon seized upon by politicians to advance their 
own ends. They were told then, as their descendants are in- 
formed to this day, by the leading Liberals of England, who 
view with no friendly eye such a Conservative body as the 
Church, that it was the child of the Reformation, the offspring 
of chance, and the result of a compromise between royal prerog- 
ative, Papal pretension, and popular rights ; that it had neither 
the antiquity of the old, nor the purity of the new faith ; and 
that it was behind the enlightenment of the age. In fact, it was 
stigmatized as deriving its origin from no higher authority than 
an Act of Parliament. Macaulay has lent his aid to perpetuate 
this delusion, and the innovating propensities of the Whigs may 
well be imagined from the fact, that even history is not safe in 
the hands of a reformer. 

As this dissentient body, at a subsequent period, furnished the 
pioneers who settled in New England, it is necessary to take a 
cursory view of their position, divisions, and political and relig- 
ious principles, that we may understand the character and tem- 
per of the people we have been treating of 

There were at that time three great parties of Nonconformists 
in the parent country — the Presbyterians, the Independents, and 
the Puritans. There were some points in which they all agreed, 
but there was a broad line of distinction among them in others. 
They concurred in a thorough hatred of Popeiy and prelacy, 
which they affected to consider nearly synonymous terms, and 
united in a desire to restrain the regal authority, but different in 
degree. The Presbyterians, from the habit of mingling politics 
with their religious discourses, often gave vent to violent and 
seditious language, A preacher at St. Andrews, called mon- 
archs " Beelzebub's children," and not long after, another at 
Edinburgh, said the king had been possessed of a devil, and that 
one being expelled, seven more fierce and unclean had entered in 
his place, and wound up by declaring that the people might law- 
fully use and take the sword out of his hand. But, notwith- 
standing these ebullitions of vulgar abuse and priestly insolence, 
the party in general, both in England and Scotland, were de- 
sirous of going no further than reducing the king to the simple 
station of first magistrate. 

The Independents wished to abolish the monarchy altogether, 



200 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

as well as the aristocratic order, and projected an entire equality 
of rank, and the establishment ol" a free and independent republic. 
At the same time they differed from the other two in upholding 
toleration ; and it has often been remarked as a singular fact, 
that so rational a doctrine did not emanate from reason, but from 
the height of extravagance and fanaticism.* They neglected all 
ecclesiastical establishments, and would admit of no spiritual 
courts, no government among pastors, no interposition of the 
magistrate in religious concerns, and no fixed encouragement 
annexed to any system of doctrines or opinions. According to 
their principles, each congregation, united voluntarily and by 
spiritual ties, composed within itself a separate church, and exer- 
cised a jurisdiction destitute of temporal sanctions over its own 
pastor and its own members. The election alone was sufficient 
to bestow the sacredotal character ; and as all essential distinc- 
tions were denied between the laity and the clergy, no ceremony, 
no institution, no vocation, and no imposition of hands was, as in 
all other Churches, supposed requisite to convey a right to holy 
orders. The enthusiasm of the Presbyterians led them to reject 
the authority of prelates, to throw off the restraint of liturgies, 
to retrench ceremonies, to limit the riches and power of the 
priestly office. The fanaticism of the Independents, exalted to a 
higher pitch, abolished ecclesiastical government, disdained creeds 
and systems, neglected every pre-existing form, and confounded 
all ranks and orders. The soldier, the merchant, the mechanic, 
indulging the fervors of zeal, and guided by the impulse of the 
spirit, resigned himself to an inward and superior direction, and 
was consecrated, in a manner, by an immediate intercourse and 
communication with Heaven. 

The Puritans again, were divided into three classes, which, 
though commonly united, were yet actuated by different views 
and motives.! First, There were the political Puritans, who 
maintained the highest principles of civil liberty. Secondly, 
the Puritans in discipline, who were averse to the ceremonies 
and episcopal government of the Church. Thirdly, the doctrinal 
party, who rigidly defended the speculative system of the first 
reformers. These subdivisions are not very intelligible nor inter- 
esting to the general reader, and subsequent events have rendered 

** Hume. t See Neal's History of the Puritans 



THE ENGLISH IX AMERICA. 201 

them of less importance.* The despised and persecuted Episco- 
pal Church of England has, by the blessing of God, taken deep 
root in America •, the uniformity of its practice, the simplicity 
and beauty of its ceremonies, the fixed and established princi- 
ples of its creeds and doctrines, have survived the factious or 
prejudiced sects that opposed it ; many of whose adherents, have 
at last found shelter and repose in its bosom from the doubts, 
contentions, and schisms in which they had been involved. The 
rest have changed with the mutations of times ; for dissent car- 
ries within it the seeds of its own dissolution. The Puritans 
have declined into Unitarians. The Presbyterians of the States 
are becoming Anabaptists, Socinians, or Churchmen, more than 
three hundred of their clergy having recently sought episcopal 
ordination ; while toleration or neglect, fashion, or ridicule, have 
nearly vanquished the Quakers. The Baptists again have sepa- 
rated into an endless variety of sects. f It is not very probable 
that the Puritans of Massachusetts had agreed upon their form 
of ecclesiastical government before they left England ; but they 
concurred in their dislike to the ceremonies and doctrines of the 
Church. Their last act, when embarked and ready for sea, was 

* See Hume, from whom these distinctions have been freely extracted. 

t They are thus described by a recent traveler in the Western States. He 
informs us, '• that he saw on one occasion about a thousand men and women in 
a grove, rolling hoops, flying kites, playing ball, shooting marbles, leaping, run- 
ning, wrestling, boxing, i-oUing and tumbling in the grass ; the women caress- 
ing dolls, and the men astride of sticks for horses, and the whole company in- 
tently engaged in all the sports of childhood. At last he ventured to ask what 
it meant. They told him they professed to be little children, to whom the 
Lord had promised his kingdom, and affected some surprise that he seemed 
not to have known that it was written, 'Except ye be converted, and become 
as little children, ye shall in no case enter the Kingdom of God.' He told them 
that that was true ; that it was very well to imitate the virtues of infancy, but 
not its foibles ; that the Apostle had said : ' In malice be ye children, but in 
understanding be men ;' and this extraordinary conduct was the folly of child- 
hood, without its immaturity to excuse it. ' We are not at all surprised that 
you think so,' they replied, ' for we are a reproach unto our neighbors, and they 
of our acquaintance do hide themselves from us ; but we are willing to suffer 
persecution for the kingdom of heaven's sake ; for these things are hidden, as 
it is written, from the wise and prudent, and are revealed unto babes.' " 

The reader may see in the histories of the Reformation, and even in D'Aubig- 
ne himself, that this sect is the genuine successor of the original Baptist body 
in Germany, Switzerland, and England, who ran many of them naked, in the 
pretended innocence of childhood, vociferating through the streets, rolling and 
tumbling, and affecting all the sports of children, believing that the truth is re- 
vealed by the Spirit to babes ; tlirowing the word of God into the fire, exclaim- 
ing, says DAubJgne, " that the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." 



202 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

to send the following circular to the clergy of the Established 
Church. It is a long document ; but it is such a reniarkahle 
piece of insincerity, that it is impossible to rise from its perusal, 
without feeling that it justified all the doubts that were subse- 
quently entertained of their attachment to the parent state. 
The only way that it can be accounted for is, by supposing 
either that they were laboring under conscious terror at the 
breach of faith they had committed, in surreptitiously removing 
the charter to America, and feared that they might be pursued 
and punished, or that they dreaded, from the size of the fleet, 
and the number of emigrants, if they were constrained, by stress 
of weather, to put back into an English port, they might be pre- 
vented from withdrawing from the kingdom ; but neither expe- 
diency on the one hand, nor apprehension from danger on the 
other, offer any palliation for such a wide departure from the truth : 

" The humble request of his Majesty's loyal subjects, the gov- 
ernor and company late gone for New England, to the rest of 
their brethren in and of the Church of England. 

" Reverend Fathers and Brethren— The generall rumour 
of this solemne enterprise, wherein ourselves and others, through 
the providence of the Almightie, are engaged, as it may spare us 
the labour of imparting our occasion unto you, so it gives us the 
more encouragement to strengthen ourselves by the procurement 
of the prayers and blessings of the Lord's faithful servants. For 
which end we are bold to have recourse unto you, as those whom 
God hath placed nearest his throne of Mercy ; which, as it 
affords you the more opportunity, so it imposeth the greater bond 
upon you to intercede for his people in all their straights. We 
beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of the Lord Jesus, to con- 
sider us as your brethern, standing in very great need of your 
helpe, and earnestly imploring it. And howsoever your charac- 
ter may have met with some occasion of discouragement, through 
the misreport of our intentions, or through the disaffection, or 
indiscretion of some of us, or rather amongst us, for we are not 
of those who dreame of perfection in this world, yet we desire you 
would be pleased to take notice of the principles and body of our 
company as those tvho esteeme it an lionour to call the Church 
of England from tvhence we rise, our deare Mother, and can not 
part from our native countrie, where she specially residelh, witli- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 203 

out much sadness of heart, and many tears in our eyes, ever 
acknowledging that such hope and part as we have obtained in 
the common salvation, we have received in her bosome, and suckt 
it from her breast. We leave it not, therefore, as loathing that 
milk wherewith we were nourished then, but blessing God for the 
parentage and education, as members of the same body, and shall 
always rejoice in her good, and unfainedly grieve for any sorrow 
that shall ever betide her, and while ive have breath, syncerely 
desire and indear over the continuance and abundance of her 
welfare, with the enlargement of her bounds in the Kingdom of 
Christ Jesus. 

" Be pleased, therefore. Reverend Fathers and Brethren, to 
helpe forward this worke now in hand, which if it prosper, you 
shall be more glorious, howsoever your judgment is with the 
Lord, and your reward with your God. It is an usual and laud- 
able exercise of your charity to recommend to the prayers of 
your congregation the necessities and straights of your private 
neighbours. Doe the hke for a Church springing out of your 
own bowels. What we intreat of you, that are the ministers of 
God, that we crave at the hands of all the rest of our brethren, 
that they would at no time forget us in their private solicitations 
at the throne of Grace. And so commending you to the Grace 
of God in Christ, we shall ever rest, 

Your assured friends and brethren,* 

Jo. WlNTHORPE, Gov. 

and others. 

•' From Yarmouth, 
"Aboard the 'Arabella,' 
"April 7th, 1630." 

Notwithstanding the affectionate language of this valedictory 
address, it appears that they knew what measures had been 
adopted by the first portion of the adventurers, under their agent 
Endicot, for establishing Congregationalism at Salem, and were 
fully informed of what the inhabitants of Plymouth had done. 
In one short month after their arrival, they commenced to lay 
the foundation of a Church, as dissimilar as possible from that to 
which they had so recently called God to witness they were so 
warmly attached. Subsequently their principles were formally 

* Some portion of the address, imploring the prayers of their dear brethren, 
is omitted. 



204 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

developed and were distinguished by Mr. Cotton, their leading 
divine, at Boston. 

First. The subject matter of the visible Church, viz., saints by 
calling. Such as are acquainted with the principles of religion, 
and who profess their faith, and the manner how they were 
brought to the knowledge of God, by faith in Christ, either viva 
voce, or else by a public declaration thereof, made by the elders, 
as it has been delivered to them in private, although if such pro- 
fession be scandalized by an unchristian conversation, it is not to 
be regarded. Secondly. The constitutive part of a particular 
visible Church ought to be a re-stipulation or natural coven antry 
to walk together in their Christian communion, according to the 
rule of the Gospel. Thirdly. No Church ought to be of a larger 
extent, or greater number, than may ordinarily meet together in 
one place, for the enjoyment of all the same numerical ordinances 
and celebrating divine worship, nor fewer ordinarily, than may 
carry on Church work. Fourthly. That there is no jurisdiction 
to which particular Churches are or ought to be subject, by way 
of authoritative censure, nor to any other Church power, extrin- 
sical to such Churches, which they ought to depend upon any 
other sort of men for the exercise of 

By the three first of these fundamental doctrines voluntary 
combination was established as the principle of action ; by the 
last total independence of the English, or any other ecclesiastical 
establishment, was secured. When a suflicient number of per- 
sons were gathered together, they of their own free will and 
accord combined, and formed a church, and by a majority of votes 
elected and in the same way dismissed their minister. There 
were regularly two pastors to each congregation ; a teacher "to 
minister a word of knowledge," and another " to minister a word 
of wisdom," a distinction which soon terminated in the appoint- 
ment of one only, who was supported in some places by volunta- 
ry offerings, and in others by rates ; which latter was subsequent- 
ly adopted and finally enforced by law. They were sometimes 
designated as "teaching elders" to distinguish them from "ruling 
elders." The latter were, " ancient, godly, experienced Christians, 
of lion-like courage when the sound and wholesome doctrines 
declared by pastor or teacher are spoken against by any one." 
" There were also deacons," " plain-deahng men endowed with 
wisdom from above to manage the Church treasury." 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 205 

The synods were recognized as merely auxiliary bodies of 
advice ; but were not allowed to exercise any authority or juris- 
diction over particular churches, nor pronounce censures or enforce 
discipline. They were said to be in their own language, " con- 
sultative, decisive and declarative, but not co-active," and the 
union of lay and and church members was thought to be typified 
by Moses and Aaron meeting on the Mount and kissing each 
other. A miracle (which they ridiculed when claimed by Ro- 
manists), attested the divine approbation of such institutions. 
On one occasion, when they were all assembled, a snake suddenly 
appeared near the seat occupied by the Elders. Many of them 
shii'led from it, but Mr. Thompson, of Braintree, " a man of 
much faith," trod upon its head, and so held it with foot and 
stafi'till it was killed. "This being so remarkable," says Win- 
throp, " and nothing falling but by Divine Providence, it is out 
of doubt, the Lord discovered somewhat of his mind in it. The 
serpent is the Devil, the synod tlie representative of the Churches 
of Christ in New England. The Devil had formerly and lately 
attempted their disturbance and dissolution ; but their faith in 
the seed of the woman, overcame him, and crushed his head." 
But although both the civil and religious bodies severally dis- 
claimed all control over each other, they soon Ibund it convenient 
to give and receive mutual assistance. As both belonged to the 
same Church, this reciprocal accommodation, it was thought, 
would be attended with little or no danger; while each in its 
turn derived additional \veight from the interchange of protec- 
tion. 

It is not necessary to pursue this subject into detail. Suffi- 
cient has been said to show that Church and State were based on 
republican principles. The intimate connection subsisting be- 
tween the ibrm of an ecclesiastical establishment, and the pohtical 
opinions of its members, is manifest to all those acquainted with 
the practical working of elective institutions. In England, Dis- 
senters almost universally support the Whigs, not from love or 
respect, but because they are less disposed than the Tories to up- 
hold the Church; and are more pliable and latitudinarian. In 
utter ignorance that they owe their safety from persecution, and, 
indeed, their very existence, to the shelter afforded to them by 
the Establishment against Popery, they idly suppose if it were 
prostrated, they would be advanced both in power, wealth, and 



206 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

station. In like manner the Romanists also coalesce with them ; 
and notwithstanding the present outcry about Papal aggression, 
will continue to do so, not only on similar grounds, but on a cer- 
tain conviction, that if the Church of England be essentially 
crippled by the State, the only shield to Protestantism in Europe 
is destroyed, and Popery will not only be again triumphant, but 
universal. 

It is this similarity of object that has effected a political union 
of action between the two most irreconcilable and impracticable 
bodies in the world. In nothing, perhaps, is the knowledge, 
skill, foresight, and untiring perseverance of Pi^ome, or the igno- 
rance and infatuation of Dissent, more conspicuous. Nor is this 
remarkable elective sympathy confined to England : it is exhibit- 
ed in every part of the British empire where constitutional gov- 
ernment exists. 



BOOK III. 



CHAPTER I. 

Four Great Inter-colonial Wars occur between the English Revolution of 1688 
and the Peace of 1763 — Cause of the military Character of the People — Extent 
of the French Territory — Their Claims to extend their Boundaries — Form of 
Government in Canada — They fraternize with the Indians — Count Fronte- 
nac's three Predatory Parties — Treaty of Ryswick — End of first Inter- 
colonial War — Chief Events of the other three Wars — Canada ceded to 
Great Britain by Treaty of 1763. 

The period that elapsed between the EngUsh revolution of 1688, 
and the peace of 1763, is memorable for four great iuter-colonial 
wars. A narrative of the various campaigns is better suited to a 
general history of America, than a political sketch like the present. 
I do not propose, therefore, to enter into any detailed account of 
them. The story has often been told, and whatever interest it 
may once have possessed, the gigantic struggles in which Great 
Britain, France, and America have been subsequently engaged, 
have contributed to render it of still less comparative importance. 
I would gladly pass it over altogether, but some reference is nec- 
essary, in order to show the military character of the inhabitants, 
the resources of the colonies, and the manner in which the people 
were trained to the use of arms, inured to danger and hardship, 
and accustomed to that warfare so pecuhar to a country but par- 
tially cleared of the forest. It was this long continued series of 
contests with the savage tribes of the northern continent, and the 
disciplined troops of France, that furnished the revolted provinces 
with able and experienced officers, converted every husbandman 
into a soldier, and enabled them subsequently to undertake the 
bold and difficult task of defending themselves against the armies 
and fleets of England. The remaining colonies have now nearly 
the same population as those that revolted ; but the people have 
not had the training of their forefathers ; and, be vend all doubt, 



208 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

neither they, nor the present race of Americans, would be able, 
however much their passions might be enlisted, to exhibit any such 
progress, to sustain, with similar steadiness, the shock of regular 
troops, or eflect the same extraordinary results. It was in these 
campaigns that Washington, and the majority of his efficient 
officers, took their first lessons in the art of war. To their honor 
too it must be admitted, that most of the creditable achievements 
were effected by the provincials alone, or when only slightly 
assisted by the king's troops, and that success receded from the 
English armies, in proportion as they assumed the conduct of 
affairs, or attempted enterprises unaided by colonial forces. 

The first inter-colonial war commenced on this continent by an 
attack, made by a combined force of Indians and French, on the 
defenseless frontiers in 1690, and continued until the tenth day 
of December, 1697, when the peace of Ryswick was proclaimed 
at Boston.* The territory claimed by the French on this conti- 
nent confined the English plantations to a strip of land of unequal 
width on the sea-coast. Asserting the Kennebec to be the bound- 
ary between them and Massachusetts, they held the whole east- 
ern coast. Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, St. John (now Prince 
Edward's Island), Newfoundland, Labrador, and Hudson's 
Bay, while, on the other hand, they maintained that they were 
entitled to a moiety of Vermont, to more than half of the province 
of New York, to the whole, valley of the Mississippi, and to Texas, 
as far as the Rio Bravo del Norte. Knowing their own weakness, 
they proposed, at the commencement of hostilities, to prolong the 
peace then subsisting in America ; an offer which William 
promptly rejected. But nothing seemed to be severer in the for- 
tune of the British colonies, than that after they had purchased 
or conquered their territory, unaided by foreign interference, their 
peace, which was the natural eflect of their exertions, should be 
subject to be disturbed by the broils of the parent countries ; and 
that after the bravery of their people had relieved them from the 
natural strength of the Aboriginals, they should be destined to be 
attacked again by their old enemies, inspired and aided by auxil- 
iary forces of Europeans. 

The total population of the English colonies, at the commence- 
ment of hostilities, might have amounted to two hundred thou- 
sand ; but half at least of it south of the Delaware, and far re- 
* The treaty was signed on the 1st of September. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 209 

moved from the scene of action, took no part in the struggle, 
beyond voting some small sums for the aid of New York. At a 
first view of the relative strength of these rival countries, it would 
appear that the provincials were an overmatch for their Gallic 
neighbors ; but the military enterprise, and ardor of the latter, 
were aided by a decision natural to the character of the nation, 
and resulting from the despotism of their monarchy. Their 
religion, or rather their priests, subserved the cause of their 
government with all the arts and influence of a system too long 
devoted more to human than spiritual purposes* llie rulers oi 
the mother country, and all the colonists, had but one object. 
No encroachments upon charter privileges, no resistance to the 
exercise of disputed prerogative, and no division of the Estab- 
lished Church, re-axed the common ardor ibr the glory of the 
monarchy. However despotic the government of France might 
have been in Canada, it was paternal, alike calculated to secure 
the interests, and win the affections of the people. The ad- 
ministration of its affairs was intrusted to a Governor, an 
Inteiidant, and a Royal Council. The former was invested with 
a great deal of power, which, however, on the side of the crown, 
was checked by the Intendant, who had the care of the king's 
rights, and whatever related to the revenue ; and on the side of 
the people, it was restrained by the Pwoyal Council, whose office 
it was to see that the people were not oppressed by the one, nor 
defrauded by the other ; and they were all checked by the con- 
stant and jealous eye, which the government at home kept over 
them. The officers at all the ports of France were charged,! 
under the severest penalties, to interrogate all captains of ships, 
coming from the colonies, concerning the reception they met at 
the ports they were bound to ; how justice was administered, and 
what charges were imposed on them. The passengers, and even 
the sailors, were examined upon these heads ; and a verbal process 
of the whole was formed, and transmitted with all sjjeed to the 
Admiralty. Complaints were encouraged, but a difference was 
made between hearing an accusation, and condemning upon it. 
Unlike the practice in the British provinces at that lime, the 
salaries of all the officers were defrayed from the treasury of 
France. The local authorities derived great strength, in addition 
to a complete control of the people, from the affections of the 
* Minot. t British Settlements in America. 



210 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

savages, whose character they understood, and whose regard they 
knew how to win, better than the English. They were frater- 
nized by an assimilation of manners, of families, and of worship. 
When the French planted a military post, it was not merely by 
a garrison, but they naturalized the place by a domestic neigh- 
borhood, and a numerous population. This mixture with the 
natives gave them an ascendency in their councils and enterprises. 
When they levied war, they drew down the savage tribe upon 
the frontier of the enemy ; and after exercising their usual bar- 
barities, commonly retreated too soon for successful pursuit. 

The English Provincials were soon made sensible of the evils 
resulting from the unwise rejection of neutrality by the king. 
Count Frontenac, who had recently returned from France, with 
reinforcements, dispatched three marauding parties to fall upon 
the defenseless frontiers, and their unsuspecting inhabitants. As 
it is not my intention to enter into any details of these wars, I 
shall here describe the havoc committed by their detachments, in 
order to convey to the reader some idea of the barbarous and 
horrible warfare carried on by the colonies of the two most 
enlightened nations in the world. 

The first party consisted of one hundred and fifty savages and 
traders, guided, says Hildreth, by the water-courses, whose frozen 
surface furnished them a path. They traversed a wooded wilder- 
ness covered with deep snows. Pressing stealthily forward, in a 
single file, the foremost wore snow shoes, and so beat a track for 
the rest. At night the snow was thrown up toward the side, 
whence the wind came ; and in the hollow trees scooped out, 
they slept on branches of pine, with a fire in the midst. A little 
parched corn served them for provisions, eked out by such game 
as they killed. After a twenty-two days' march, intent on their 
bloody purpose, they approached Schenectady, the object of their 
toil. This was a Dutch village on the Mohawk, then the out- 
post of the settlements about Albany. A cluster of some forty 
houses was protected by a palisade, but the gates were open and 
unguarded, and, at midnight, the inhabitants slept profoundly. 
The assailants entered in silence, divided themselves into several 
parties, and giving the signal by the terrible war-whoop, com 
menced the attack. Sixty were slain on the spot, twenty-seven 
were taken prisoners, and the rest fled, half naked, along the road 
to Albany, through a driving storm of sleet and deep snow, and cold 



THE ENGLISH IN AiMERICA. 211 

SO bitter that many lost their hmbs by frost. The assailants set 
oft' for Canada with their prisoners and their plunder, and efiected 
their escape, though not without severe loss, inflicted by some 
Mohawk warriors, who hastened to pursue them. 

Another party, consisting of fifty-two persons, of whom twenty- 
five were Indians, departing from Three Rivers, a village, half- 
way from Montreal to Quebec, ascended the St. Francis, entered 
the valley of the Upper Connecticut, and thence made their way 
across the mountains and forests of New Hampshire. Presently 
they descended on Salmon Falls, a frontier village, on the chief 
branch of the Piscataqua, and killed about thirty of the bravest 
of the inhabitants. The rest, to the number of fifty-four, prin- 
cipally women and children, surrendered at discretion. 

The Sieur Hertel, who commanded this expedition, met, on 
his way homeward, a third party, which had marched from Que- 
bec, and, joining his company to it, he attacked and destroyed the 
fort of Casco. This latter place was so situated as to be over- 
looked from a rock, that was near it, from which the Indians 
galled the garrison to such a degree, that the next day it capitu- 
lated on terms which were kept with Indian faith, some of the 
men being butchered, and the others carried away captive. The 
people of New England, to rid themselves of such troublesome 
neighbors, conceived the bold idea of taking Quebec, and accord- 
ingly a considerable fleet and armament was sent up the St. 
Lawrence, for this purpose ; but it was an ill-concerted plan, 
intrusted to incompetent persons, and unhappily failed. 

The loss of the fort of Pimaquid, and the capture of Port Royal 
(now Annapolis) in Nova Scotia, with numerous petty, but mur- 
derous inroads, in which liberal use of fire and sword was made 
by both parties, occupied the attention of the combatants during 
the remainder of the war ; both the English and French Provin- 
cials being left to their own resources in consequence of the great 
struggle that was going on in Europe. The most remarkable of 
these incursions was one made by Frontenac from Canada, in 
order to chastise the savages dwelling in the rear of New York, 
who were in the interest of the English, and served as a shield to 
protect them from the French. After indescribable labor and 
fatigue, they surmounted all the difficulties presented by an in- 
terminable forest, deep snow, and severe cold, and surprised the 
Mohawk villages near Albany, and carried off in chains three 



212 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

hundred of their warriors, although a prompt and vigorous pur- 
suit caused them some loss both of their own men and their 
captives. 

The Treaty of Ryswick put a temporary stop to these cruel 
hostihties, and the colonists had some repose from the incessant 
vigilance which the nature of the warfare and character of their 
opponents demanded. By the seventh article, it was agreed that 
mutual restitution should be made of all captured forts, countries, 
and colonies ; while an enormous expense was entailed on France, 
England, and the provinces in America. 

The second inter-colonial war commenced in 1702, and was 
terminated by the Treaty of Utrecht, on the 30th of March, 1713. 
Peace was scarcely proclaimed when the defects of the Treaty of 
liyswick became apparent to all. The French continued their 
old or commenced new encroachments, intrigued with the Indians, 
and occupied themselves in preparing for another conflict, which 
they knew to be inevitable. Their movements were viewed with 
great jealousy and alarm by both New York and Massachusetts, 
upon whom the whole brunt of hostilities would inevitably fall ; 
while the other colonies, shielded by them, neither felt for their 
sufferings nor contributed to their defense. The impossibility of 
combining twelve di.stinct and independent provinces in one com- 
mon system of defense, or attack, had been so often represented to 
the late king, that the whole subject was now referred to the 
Council of the Colonies, who reported that " they had employed 
much time in promoting domestic industry, in urging foreign 
enterprise, and much attention in corresponding with the gover- 
nors of colonies, in perusing acts of Assembly, and in giving energy 
to the laws of navigation, which it had been so difficult to enforce." 
For several years after, both Houses of Parliament demanded, 
what was regularly furnished by the Board, a general statement 
of the national commerce, in order to discover whether it pros- 
pered or declined. The disorders and the consequent weakness 
of the plantations, owing less to the pressure of a too potent enemy 
than to the impossibility of procuring the concurrence of twelve 
democratical conventions in any common measure, who, being all 
independent of each other, were actuated by dissimilar designs, 
had been so often represented to the Ministers, as at length to 
engage attention. That respectable commission having consid- 
ered the whole matter with the utmost care, stated to the Lords 



THE EXGLISII IN AMERICA. 2l3 

Justices, in September, 1696, during the king's absence, "that 
in those settlements there was force enough to repel the neigh- 
boring French ; but they are so disunited in interests, that they 
have hitherto afforded little assistance to each other, and show a 
worse disposition to do it in future. Nor can it be imagined that 
the English there should think it much to employ their own 
ixiinds and purses in defense of their own estates, lives, and 
families, yet should expect to be wholly supported from England, 
which hath spent so much blood and treasure in the carrying on 
of so lasting a war ; that by reason of the various independent 
governments, they could not perceive how it is possible to preserve 
those provinces, unless his Majesty shall appoint a captain-general 
of all his forces, and of the militia of all the colonies, with power 
to levy and command them for their defense. That considering 
it w^ould be impossible for the planters to remain in that country 
if the neighboring Indians should once be gained over to the 
French, it will be very expedient to secure the tribes by every 
encouragement, giving them rewards for all execution done by 
them on the enemy, and the scalps they bring in be well paid for." 

This jndicious advice, though approved, was unhappily not 
acted upon. The attention of politicians was engrossed by more 
favorite, because more personal schemes. One of the first acts 
of Queen Anne was to declare war against France, and to send 
artillery, small arms, and military stores to the colonists, with in- 
junctions to aid and assist each other. The horrid scenes already 
described were re-enacted, with more barbarity, because each 
party had injuries to avenge, and had lost relations whose death 
was to be atoned for in blood. 

We shall not pursue the subject into detail. During the ten 
years it continued, the forces of Massachusetts swept the coast 
from the Piscataqua to Nova Scotia with live hundred and fifty 
men, taking the town of Menis in 1704 ; and in three years after- 
ward one thousand men were transported to capture Port Royal, 
and made two unsuccessful attempts upon it. In the year 1710 
the province furnished two complete regiments, with the necessary 
shipping, in aid of the squadron and army who captured that 
place. 

The principal incident of the war was an expedition for the 
conquest of Canada. In June, 1711, a large fleet, consisting of 
fifteen ships of war, with forty transports, having on board five 



214 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

veteran regiments of" Marlborough's army, arrived at Boston, 
where they were detained more than a month, waiting for pro- 
visions and colonial auxiliaries. Massachusetts furnished £-40.000 
to aid the enterprise, New York £10,000, and Pennsylvania, 
under the Quaker evasion of a present to the Queen, contributed 
£2,000. Fifteen hundred troops, furnished by Connecticut, New 
York, and New Jersey, were assembled at Albany, and placed 
under the command of Governor Nicholson, who was soon after 
joined by eight hundred Indian warriors, which combined force 
was destined to make an attack on Montreal, while the fleet was 
to attempt the capture of Quebec, The naval expedition failed, 
owing to the mismanagement and ignorance of Admiral Walker, 
who lost eight of his transports and a thousand men in the 
St. Lawrence ; after which he sent home the Massachusetts 
vessels Math their troops, and returned immediately to England, 
where he endeavored to exculpate himself by throwing the whole 
blame on the Provincials. This unexpected disaster frustrated 
the hopes of the forces destined for the land attack ; and the pro- 
vinces were left to count the cost of these heavy charges, and 
digest as they could, the imputation on their conduct and courage, 
so ungenerously made by the naval commander. 

Small as these armaments now seem, the expense was severely 
felt at the time by a people who were greatly impoverished by 
continued hostilities. In the capture of Port Royal, in 1710, 
Massachusetts, as we have already seen, furnished two entiie 
regiments with the necessary shipping for their conveyance, and 
supplied Admiral Walker with ten weeks' provision for the forces 
under his command. During one summer, one-fifth of the whole 
population capable of bearing arms, were under pay ; and it is 
computed that she had lost between five and six thousand able- 
bodied young men. 

The Treaty of Utrecht was signed on the 30th of March, 1713. 
Unlike that of Ryswick, which was based on a general restitution, 
it secured to England, Acadia (Nova Scotia), according to its 
ancient limits ; the fur trade of Hudson's Bay, the whole of New- 
foundland, with certain reservations, as to a participation in the 
fisheries, and the French part of St. Kitt's, in the West Indies ; 
and acknowledged the English sovereignty, hitherto disputed, over 
the five nations of Indians inhabiting the territory bordering on 
New York. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA 215 

Although dispersed over an immense surface, the population 
of the colonies was so great, as to make them feared equally by 
the French, who could make but little impression upon them ; 
and by the English, who could not command their obedience. In 
the quarter of a century, from the Revolution of 1688, to the 
accession of the House of Hanover, their population had doubled. 
A public document prepared for the Board of Trade, gives the 
following returns : 

Whites. Negroes. Total. 

375,750 58,850 434,600 

The immigration nito the colonies since 1690 — a period of 
twenty-five years — had been inconsiderable, consisting principally 
of negro slaves, and of Irish and German indented servants. 
The great majority of the present inhabitants were natives of 
America. 

The third inter-colonial war commenced in 1743, and was 
brought to a close by the Treaty of Aix-la-Cha.pelle, on the 7th 
of October, 1748. The first information received of it was brought 
by some fugitives from Casco, which place had been captured by 
the French of Louisburg, in Cape Breton, and by messengers 
from Annapolis, stating that the place was invested by a large 
force headed by a priest. Pvelief was promptly yielded, but no 
sooner had the fleet sailed for Boston, than the same ecclesiastic 
made a second attack, that required the garrison to be so strength- 
ened, as to be beyond the reach of any thing but ships of war or 
a large body of regular troops. 

Louisburg, which the French had fortified at a prodigious ex- 
pense, was now by far the strongest post north of the Gulf of 
Mexico, and at the same time was situated in the most import- 
ant position. It commanded the entrance to the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, secured a monopoly of the fisheries, furnished in abund- 
ance the requisite supplies for the "West Indies, afforded shelter 
and repairs for the French fleet, and was so conveniently situated 
for privateers, that the English commerce was almost annihilated. 
Some prisoners, who returned from thence on parole, suggested 
the idea; that a sudden, bold, and vigorous attack upon it, if at- 
tempted at once, would probably prove successful. The proposal 
was approved by the governor, and submitted to the Legislature ; 
but so formidable did the undertaking appear, that the measure 
was only carried by a majority of one vote. A circular, asking 



216 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

assistance and co-operation, was sent to the other colonies, some 
of whom responded to the call, and contributed more or less, ac- 
cording to the interest they had in navigation. Pennsylvaniu, 
which was always distinguished for tender conscience, would not 
raise troops for so wicked a purpose as to kill their fellow beings, 
but gave two thousand pounds to purchase provisions for them, 
lest, peradventure, they might die of famine as well as by the 
sword. Whitfield, then preaching in America, gave his influence 
in favor of the expedition, and suggested as a motto for the flag 
of the New Hampshire regiment, " Nil desperandum Christo 
duce." The enterprise, under such auspices, assumed something 
of the character of an anti-Catholic crusade, and one of the chap- 
lains carried a hatchet for the purpose of hewing down the images 
in the French churches. 

The forces employed by Massachusetts to reduce the island of 
Cape Breton, consisted of upwards of three thousand two hundred 
of their own men, who were aided by five hundred from Con- 
necticut, and three hundred from New Hampshire. In addition 
to these, three hundred arrived from Rhode Island, but not until 
the enemy had surrendered. Ten vessels of which the two largest 
carried only twenty guns each, with the armed sloops of Connect- 
icut and Rhode Island as cruisers, constituted the whole naval 
force, until the arrival of the troops at Casco, where they were 
joined by a squadron of the king's ships, under Admiral Warren. 

The men embarked on the 24th day of March, 174^, and 
being landed on the island of Cape Breton on the 30th of April, 
the operations were continued against Louisburg until the 17th 
of June following, when it was surrendered. The New England 
forces lost only one hundred and one men, killed by the enemy 
and accidental causes, and about thirty, who died of sickness ; 
while the French were supposed to have lost three hundred, who 
M^ere killed within their walls. The strength of Louisburg, 
which was regularly fortified and garrisoned by six hundred and 
fifty veteran troops, and one thousand three hundred efleclive 
men of the inhabitants, and the relative consequence of the 
island, as affecti«g the other settlements of the contending povi'eis, 
places this voluntary enterprise of New England in an important 
point of view. 

The capitulation was no sooner signed, than the admiral, 
whose blunders had, in the first instance, retarded the operations 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 217 

with that assumption which has ever distinguished both branches 
of the service, when associated with colonists, claimed the whole 
merit of the achievement. England, with her wonted liberahty 
settled the dispute between the rival commanders, by reward- 
ing both. Elated by their success, the Provincials now offered 
to undertake the conquest of Canada; but the Duke of Bedford, 
to whom Governor Shirley's plan had been submitted, disapproved 
of it, as exhibiting to the colonists too plainly their own strength. 
He represented " how imprudent it would be to send twenty 
thousand colonists to plunder the Canadians, and conquer their 
lands (after the experience we have had of their conduct and 
principles), on account of the independence it might create in 
those provinces, when they shall see within themselves so great 
an army, possessed of so great a country by right of conquest." 
He therefore advised to place the chief dependence on the fleet 
and army to be sent from England, and to look on the Americans 
as useful only when joined with others. Finally, the Whigs 
determined to send a powerful fleet to Quebec, at the same time 
that an army should attack Montreal, by the route of Lake 
Champlain ; and so late as April, 1746, orders were issued to the 
several governors to levy troops without limitation, which, when 
assembled on the frontiers, the king would pay. 

From some unknown cause, the plan was abandoned as soon as 
formed. The general appointed to the chief command was order- 
ed not to embark, but the instructions to enlist troops had been 
transmitted to America, and were acted on with alacrity. Mas- 
sachusetts raised three thousand five hundred men, to co-operate 
with the fleet, which, however, they were doomed never to see. 

After being kept a long time in suspense, they were dispersed, 
in several places, to strengthen garrisons which were supposed to 
be too weak for the defenses assigned them. Upward of three 
thousand men, belonging to other colonies, were assembled at 
Albany, undisciplined, without a commissariat, and under no con- 
trol. After the season for active operations was allowed to pass 
away, they disbanded themselves, some with arms in their hands 
demanding pay of their governors, and others suing their captains. 
In addition to this disgraceful aflair, the Provincials had the 
mortification to have a large detachment of their men cut off in 
Lower Horton, then known as Minas, situated nearly in the centre 
of Nova Scotia, 

K 



21S THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

The Canadian forces, which had traveled thither to co-operate 
with an immense fleet expected from France, determining to 
winter in that province, rendered it a subject of continued anxiety 
and expense to Massachusetts. Governor Shirley resolved, after 
again reinforcing the garrison at Annapolis, to drive them from 
the shores of Minas Basin, where they were seated ; and in the 
winter of the year 1746, a body of troops was embarked at Boston 
for the former place. After the loss of a transport, and the great- 
est part of the soldiers on board, the troops arrived, and re-em- 
barked for Grand Pre in the district of Minas, in the latter end 
of December ; when the rigor of the climate might have been 
supposed to have operated as a guard against an attack. The 
issue was, that being cantoned at too great distances from each 
other, La Corne, a commander of the French, having intelligvjnce 
of their situation, forced a march from Schiegnieto, through a 
most tempestuous snow-storm, and surprised them at midnight. 
After losing one hundred and sixty of their men, in killed, wound- 
ed and prisoners, the party were obliged to capitulate, not, how- 
ever, on dishonorable terms, and the French, in their turn, aban- 
doned their post. 

On the 8th of May, 1749, peace was proclaimed at Boston, 
much to the mortification of the Provincials ; Cape Breton was 
restored to France ; and Louisburg, which had created so much 
dread, and inflicted such injuries on their commerce, was handed 
over to their inveterate enemies, to be rendered still stronger by 
additional fortifications. The French also obtained the islands 
of St. Pierre and Michelon, on the south coast of Newfoundland 
as stations for their fisheries. England, with her wonted munifi- 
cence, as an indemnity for the expense incurred by the Provincials 
in taking Louisburg, paid them the sum of £183,000, and also 
reimbursed the colonies for the losses sustained in raising troops 
for invading Canada, under orders subsequently revoked, amount- 
ing to £135,000. 

The fourth, last, and by far the most important inter-colonial 
war, though not formally declared, commenced by hostilities in 
America, early in the year 1754, and terminated on the 10th of 
February, 1763. The peace, so far from restoring amicable re- 
lations between England and France, was used by the latter in 
preparing for another strygglp. The Indians were incited to 
hostilities in all quarters, and esppoially in Nova Scotia, where 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 219 

the inhabitants of the infant settlement at HaHfax were exposed 
to every species of injury and insult. Throughout the Mdiole of 
that territory that stretches from the St. Lawrence to the Missis- 
sippi, and lies in the rear of the continental colonies, the Gover- 
nor of Canada erected about twenty fortified posts, to secure the 
country he had encroached upon. In 1672, one was built on the 
north entrance of Lake Ontario, and another, in the following 
year, at Michilimackinac. In 1684, a very respectable fortifi- 
cation was completed at Niagara, and another in the same strait 
in the year ]720. The passage between Lake Erie and Huron 
was secured by a fort, in 1683, the navigation of Lake Michigan 
was defended by one on each side of it, and that of the Puver 
Toronto by another, on its eastern confines. Three more, with 
an entrenched town and a citadel, were completed at Crown 
Point, at Champlain, and Richelieu, while many settlements 
were made between the Iroquois River and Montreal, which 
with seven villages within the disputed bounds of Massachusetts, 
might have contained about thirty parish churches. 

The French having taken several English traders within this 
region thus usurped by them, and confiscated their goods, sent 
them prisoners to Canada; and the Indians in their alliance, 
having murdered several provincial settlers on the same ground, 
Lieutenant-governor Dinvviddie of Virginia, sent Washington to 
the commander of their forces on the Ohio, to inquire into the 
reasons of these injurious proceedings. The answer given to him 
was such as might have been expected : " That it Avas French 
territory." A fort was then erected by the Virginians, to check 
the progress of the enemy, at the Forks of the Monongahela. 
This on the 17th of April, was taken by a force consisting of up- 
ward of six hundred men, and eighteen pieces of cannon, the gar- 
rison being permitted to retire. On the 25th of the same month, 
Colonel Washington, since so well known throughout the civil- 
ized world, took a small party who were approaching him, under 
the command of Captain Digonville ; but on the ocl of July, 
being surrounded by vastly superior numbers, after a manly resist- 
ance from eleven o'clock in the forenoon to eight in the evening, 
he was obliged to capitulate. Thus were hostilities decidedly 
commenced on the continent of America, and all the colonies 
were once more involved in the horrors of war. 

Four operations were undertaken at the same time by the 



220 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

British and Provincial forces ; of these one was commanded by 
Colonel Monckton who had orders to drive the French from their 
encroachments upon Nova Scotia. The second, more to the 
south, was directed against Crown Point, under the command of 
General Johnson. The third, under the conduct of General 
Shirley, was destined to proceed to Niagara, to secure the forts 
on that river ; and the fourth, further southward still, under Gen- 
eral Braddock was ordered to reduce Fort Quesne. 

The first was successful. The troops were raised in Massa- 
chusetts Bay, and acted as a distinct body under their own officers, 
with a promise of the same pay, and treatment in every respect 
as others in the same service with them. They embarked at 
Boston on the 20th of May, and arrived at the basin of Annapo- 
lis Royal on the 25th, whence they sailed on the first of June, 
in a fleet of forty-one vessels, to Chignecto, and anchored about 
five miles from Fort Lawrence. On the 4th, being joined by 
about three hundred regulars, with a small train of artillery, they 
marched for the French fort. Beau Sejour. On the 16th, the 
enemy surrendered, being allowed to march out with the honors 
of war, and to be transported with their efiects to Louisburg, at 
the expense of the King of Great Britain, on condition of not 
bearing arms for six months. The Fort of Gaspareau of neces- 
sity surrendered, after that of Beau Sejour, and was allowed the 
same terms. The name of the latter was changed to Cumber- 
land. 

Braddock; who commanded the expedition against Fort du 
Quesne, suffered a shameful defeat. He was repeatedly warned 
that the nature of the country, and the warfare he was engaged 
in, required the utmost caution. He was advised to send forward 
the Provincial troops that served in his army, consisting of inde- 
pendent and ranging companies, to scour the woods, and guard 
against an ambuscade ; but he thought too contemptuously both 
of the enemy and the colonists, to follow that judicious recom- 
mendation. The consequence was, he fell into an ambush when 
within seven miles of the fort. His army was totally routed, and 
sixty-four officers and about one half of the men were killed or 
wounded. The Provincials were formed under Colonel Washing- 
ton, and covered the retreat of the fugitives. 

General Johnston, though unable to attempt Crown Point, re- 
vived the drooping spirits of the people, by repulsing the Baron 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 221 

Dieskau and a large force, after a hard and well- contested fight. 
General Shirley, from a variety of causes, was unable to take 
offensive measures, until the season for action had passed, and the 
general result of the war so far was both disastrous and discouraging. 

The reasons why so little was effected, where so much was 
confidently expected, are to be sought for in the dissimilar forms 
of government of twelve provinces, and in the want of some controll- 
ing power to establish the quota of men to be furnished by each 
— the absence of a common treasury, and the right exercised by 
every province to interfere in the management of their contingents, 
as to the time of their marching, the objects of their destination, 
and their supphes. Another great case of disgust, insubordination, 
and want of union, arose from the invidious distinction made be- 
tween the king's troops and the Provincials. By an act of Parlia- 
ment, the general or field-officers who served by commission from 
the king, and a captain and other inferior officers of the British 
forces, in all duties^ took post of the Provincial officers of like rank, 
though their commissions were of older date ; and what must 
have operated most unfavorably in this respect was, that the ap- 
pointment of officers among the regular troops was extended to 
Americans so grudgingly, as so make it evident that they were no 
further rewarded by commissions, than the enlisting of men made 
it absolutely necessary. This impolicy alienated the feelings of 
many deserving and well affected colonists. 

The campaign of 1756, from the operations of some or all of 
these causes, was as unsuccessful as that in 1755. It terminated 
with the loss of the fort at Owego, and abandonment, after im- 
mense toil and expense, of the expedition against Crown Point, 
the soldiers being ingloriously employed in defensive measures for 
their own safety. That of the following year, 1757, was still 
more humiliating ; the loss of Fort William Henry, garrisoned by 
nearly three thousand regular troops, filled the country with 
despondency, and the breach of the capitulation by the French, 
whereby the prisoners were all pillaged, and many butchered in 
cold blood, was long the theme of indignant reproach. The year 
1758 opened with better prospects, and is distinguished for the 
capture of Louisburg. A very powerful armament, consisting 
of twenty ships of the line, and eighteen frigates, having on board 
fourteen hundred men, under the command of Admiral Boscawen 
and General Amherst, appeared before that place on the 2d of 



222 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

June, and on the 25th of July it surrendered. Fort Frontenac 
was also taken by a body of three thousand Provincials, aided by 
regulars ; and the French, after a severe encounter with part of 
General Forbes's army, evacuated Fort de Quesne on the Ohio. 

Ticonderoga, the great object of New England's efforts, still 
remained to scourge the country, and it was resolved forthwith to 
attack it. This attempt, however, proved unsuccessful, and 
occasioned a loss of sixteen hundred and eight rank and file of 
the regulars, among whom was Lord Viscount Howe, and three- 
hundred and thirty-four Provincials. To put an end to this 
ruinous contest, three great expeditions were undertaken : General 
Amherst, with a body of twelve thousand men, was to attack 
Crown Point ; General Wolf was, at the opposite quarter, to 
enter the St, Lawrence, and undertake the siege of Quebec, 
while Generals Johnson and Prideaux were to attempt the 
reduction of the French forts, near the Falls of Niagara. 

It was late in July before General Amherst reached Ticon- 
deroga ; on his approach, the French blew up the magazine, 
evacuated the fort, and retreated to Crown Point, whither he 
immediately pursued them. But they retired, and took post at 
Isle aux Noix, at the northern extremity of Lake Champlain. 
As the season was so far advanced, he returned to Crown Point, 
and put his troops in winter quarters. 

The expedition, under Generals Prideaux and Johnson, against 
Fort Niagara, was crowned with complete success. A large 
force, collected from all the neighboring garrisons, was assembled 
for the purpose of raising the siege, for the French justly con- 
sidered that post as the key to all their interior American empire. 
These troops were gallantly repulsed, in view of the besieged, 
who, discouraged by having all succor cut off^ surrendered as 
prisoners of war. 

While these successful operations were carried on in Upper 
Canada, General Wolfe was prosecuting the grand enterprise for 
the reduction of Quebec. Of the ascent of the heights of Abra- 
ham, the battle that ensued, the death of Wolfe and Montcalm, 
the fall of Quebec, and the subsequent conquest of Canada, every 
history, both American and English, contains a copious account. 
To abridge it would be to deprive it of its interest, and to enter 
upon it at large, is inconsistent with the nature of this work. 
Bald and scanty as the narrative I have given must necessarily 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 223 

be, it is copious enough to exhibit the miUtary character of the 
colonists, and the school in which they were trained to a knowl- 
edge of actual service. Any thing beyond this I have onfiitted, 
as^incompatible with the plan of a book that professes not to be 
a history, but a political sketch. 

On the 10th of February, 1763, a definitive treaty of peace 
was signed at Paris, and soon after ratified. By the second 
article, France renounced and guaranteed to Great Britain all 
Nova Scotia or Acadia, and likewise Canada, the Isle of Cape 
Breton, and all other islands in the Gulf and River of St. Law- 
rence. 



ClIAPTEE 11. 

SKETCH OF rOLITICAL EVENTS FROM 1G98 TO 1710. 

Arriva] of Sir William Pliipps — Difference between Old and New Charters — 
Spirit of first Legislation — Determination to Establish no permanent Salaries 
— Formation of two Parties, Loyalists and Patriots — Character and Death of 
Phipps — New York imitates the Conduct of New England — Refusal of 
Militia of Connecticut to obey tlie King's Officer — Board of Trade established 
— Courts of Admiralty created — Oath framed for Governors to enforce Trade 
Acts — Arrival of Lord Bellemont — His Character and Conduct— Appointment 
of Mr. Dudley — His Unpopularity — The Assembly deny bis Right to Negative 
their Choice of Speaker, and refuse to comply with any of the Royal Instruc- 
tions — Insinuations against the Governor that he was holding treasonable 
Correspondence with the Enemy — He is attacked by the Preachers — Ap- 
pointment of Colonel Chute — Opposition of Assembly — Appointment and 
Death of Governor Burnet — Arrival of Governor Belcher — End of Contest 
about fixed Salaries. 

On the 141h of May, 1692, Sir William Phipps arrived at 
Boston, with the new charter, and a commission, appointing him 
Governor of the colony. The people were not a little surprised 
to find, that the patent which had caused them so much appre- 
hension, was more favorable than they expected ; but liberal as it 
was, there was a very large party in the colony averse from re- 
ceiving it, hoping that by showing a bold front, and determined 
opposition, they might extort a renewal of the old one. 

Warned by past experience of the danger of permitting any 
sect to indulge intolerance, a clause was introduced into it by the 
crown officers, allowing liberty of conscience in the worship of 
God to all Christians excepting Papists ; appeals to the King 
and Council were supported in all personal actions above three 
hundred pounds sterling in value ; and the exercise of Admiralty 
jurisdiction was reserved to the Crown. But the great restraint 
laid upon the province consisted in the appointment of the Govern- 
or, Lieutenant-governor, and Secretary by the king; in investing 
his representative with a negative upon all laws and elections 
made by the Council and House of Representatives ; and subject- 
ing the laws, even w^hen thus sanctioned, to rejection by the king, 
within the term of three years. The Governor was also author- 
ized to call an Assembly whenever he saw proper, and to adjourn, 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 225 

prorogue, and dissolve it at pleasure. No act of the Legislature 
was to have any validity without his assent. The appointment 
of all military officers was vested in him solely, and he had con- 
current authority with the Council in filling every situation in 
Courts of Justice ; their civil officers were to be chosen by the 
two Houses, subject to his negative ; and no money could be paid 
out of the treasuiy, but by his warrant. 

Besides these changes, the differences between the old and new 
charter consisted in an express authority for exercising powers 
which had been in constant use from necessary implication : these 
were the privileges of a House of Representatives as a branch of 
the Legislature, the levying of taxes, and creating courts for the 
trial of capital crimes. The probate of wills, and granting ad- 
ministration on intestate estates, were expressly given to the Gov- 
ernor and Council. While the privileges of the people were thus 
diminished, the territory of the province was enlarged. The col- 
ony of New Plymouth, the province of Maine, and the county of 
Nova Scotia, with the lands between the two latter, were joined 
to Massachusetts, and formed an extensive tract of not less than 
eight hundred miles in length. Out of this extensive domain, the 
only new reservations made were the timber suitable for masts 
for the Royal Navy, and grants of land between the River Sa- 
gadahock and the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence, which were 
not to be valid without the king's approbation. 

The jealousy always felt of royalty showed itself at once on the 
first exercise of prerogative rights under the charter. Advantage 
was taken of the ignorance of the governor by the Council, to 
assume to themselves the appointment of sheriffs, justices, and 
other similar officers. An act was passed at the same time, to 
continue in full force, until formally repealed, all the old laws of 
the colony in existence when the second charter issued ; by which, 
had not the design been discovered and frustrated in England, 
the law enforcing the ecclesiastical discipline of the Congregation- 
ahsts, and authorizing the levying taxes for their support, would 
have been re-enacted ; and as no refusal could have been pro- 
cured without the consent of the Lower House, it would have 
either remained forever on the Statute Book, or caused some 
legislative action in Parliament. Another contemporaneous act 
clearly evinces the spirit of the people. It was a sort of Magna 
Charta (from which, indeed, many of its clauses were copied), 

K* 



226 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

and recited at length their various rights and privileges ; among 
others they failed not to insist upon the following : " No aid, tax, 
taillage, assessment, custom, loan, benevolence, or imposition 
whatever, shall be laid, assessed, imposed, or levied, on any of 
their Majesty's subjects or estates, on any pretense whatsoever, 
but by the aid and consent of the Governor, Council, and Repre- 
sentatives of the people assembled in General Court." This law, 
on the advice of Lord Chief Justice Holt, was disallowed by the 
king, because it contained what none of his predecessors had ever 
conferred. A criminal code was also compiled, and passed by the 
Legislature, that was in the same manner disapproved, since it 
was thought to have been borrowed too much from the Jewish 
system to be consistent with the jurisprudence of England. An- 
other law, "for securing the liberty of the subject," by extending 
the Habeas Corpus Act, was rejected, as Somers and other Whigs 
insisted it had not yet been extended to the colonies. Few of the 
acts of that session, had the good fortune to please the statesmen 
of England, since they thought it of importance to oppose the pro- 
gress of any innovation. 

In the first House convened under the new charter, a broad 
line of deraarkation was observable among the representatives ; 
the friends of British connection and Loyalists on the one hand, 
honest Republicans, unprincipled demagogues, and bigoted secta- 
rians on the other. Such as were for limiting the prerogative, 
securing the dependence of the governor, and maintaining the su- 
premacy of the colonial Legislature, naturally won the hearts 
of the people, and received their confidence in proportion to their 
zeal ; while those who thought rights and duties reciprocal, saw 
no danger in a limited monarchy, and were attached from princi- 
ple and feeling to the parent country, subjected themselves to 
the reproach of cowardice, obsequiousness, and self interested mo- 
tives. 

To the same period may be traced that favorite but fatal poli- 
cy of the Home Government, of attempting to concilitate those 
in opposition, at the expense of the feelings, the rights, and just 
claims of its true friends ; of refusing reasonable concessions, until 
compelled by popular movement to grant more than was at first 
demanded, whereby the grace of justice or liberality was merged 
in the triumph of a forced surrender, and of treating both classes 
with an indifference or contempt, that aroused the implacable 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 227 

anger of the one, and damped the ardor, and chilled the afTections 
of the other. Republican disloyalty can never he softened or 
won by kindness, which it always ascribes to weakness, or de- 
mands as a right ; though it may be strengthened by ineffectual 
resistance, or the withdrawal of salutary restraints : and the 
most devoted loyalty will perish at last, under injuries or neglect. 
There is a rectitude and majesty in justice that makes it respect- 
ed by all ; and every class is equally entitled to share in its ben- 
efits. When it is duly administered, none have a right to com- 
plain ; but when that duty is once performed, long tried friend- 
ships and faithful services have the first claim upon a grateful 
remembrance, and should receive the countenance and reward to 
which they are entitled. To buy off our enemies is a fatal poli- 
cy ; it adds to their resources in the same proportion that it 
weakens our own, and necessarily leads to new and insolent de- 
mands. It is better to arm and discipline our friends, and resist 
aggression at once, as promptitude and energy may crush it for- 
ever. But to give rebels the advantage of a fair struggle in the 
field, and when they are defeated, to remunerate them for the 
losses they have sustained, as was recently the case in Canada, 
exposes a government to the grief or indignation of its friends, 
and the inexpressible ridicule or contempt of its enemies. 

Besides the formation of the two parties, loyalists and patriots, 
above referred to, whose descendants still distract the remaining 
colonies with their contentions, the short administration of Sir 
William Phipps contains one or two instructive lessons, as to the 
effect of the previous republicanism upon the people. The ap- 
pointment of a governor by the Crown, was the most obnoxious 
part of the charter, and although Phipps was a native, and a fa- 
vorite of the Puritan divines, the Mathers, who in fact elected 
him themselves for the office, he was made to feel that in accept- 
ing it, he ceased to be regarded as a colonist. Among the asso- 
ciated agents, who had negotiated with the British Government 
for the new patent, was a violent republican of the name of 
Cook, who advocated obstruction on all occasions to the king's 
representative ; " as the appointment of an obnoxious ruler," he 
remarked, " would make the people rise," a memorable sayinij, 
which made a powerful impression on the public mind. He also 
counseled them, " to establish no officer's salary, and to perpetuate 
no public revenue," advice which was found too serviceable to thei 



228 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

cause to be neglected for a moment. It soon became a settled 
maxim of colonial policy, and was adopted throughout the 
provinces. They now no longer feared the English, as the char- 
ter had confirmed so many of their usurpations, but they heartily 
despised them ; for such was the venahty of the Whigs, that pro- 
vincial ])oliticians made no scruple of openly asserting " that any 
thing could be obtained at Whitehall for money." 

So far as Phipps was concerned, he found his commission a 
service productive of no emolument, but of great labor and re- 
sponsibility. How widely different is the situation of governor 
now. They have arrived at the other extreme, having large 
salaries, and nothing whatever to do, but to affix their signatures 
to the acts of their executives. Phipps could never prevail upon 
them to establish a salary for him, although they gave him a 
gratuity, to make him feel his dependence, and to induce him to 
connive at their usurpations, and their evasions of the laws of 
trade. In obstructing the custom house officers, he committed 
acts that occasioned his recall. He was a man of mean extraction, 
vulgar manners, and little or no education ; his early years having 
been spent in the hardy occupation of a shepherd, on the bleak 
and barren hills of his native land, in Maine ; and his frame sub- 
sequently strengthened by the laborious employment of a ship- 
carpenter in Boston. Having accidentally discovered the wreck 
of a Spanish treasure-ship, he allured King James into a joint 
adventure for searching for the cargo. A Irigate was accordingly 
placed at his disposal by the Governor of Jamaica, and his divers 
were so expert, that he fished up several thousand pounds' worth 
of gold. The king was astonished and delighted with his suc- 
cessful speculation, and in return for his large share of the profits, 
honored him with knighthood, and a patronage that in a subse- 
quent reign procured for him the government of the colony. The 
manners of early life, however, are neither ameliorated nor oblit- 
erated by the sudden acquision of wealth ; and as his arm was more 
powerful thau his reason, he never failed to resort to its use to 
enforce his arguments or his orders upon his subordinate officers. 
His attacks on his enemies, as a military man, were less success- 
ful than his assaults on his officials in the street, in which his 
victories, by exciting complaints, compelled him to go to England, 
to vindicate his conduct. He died soon after his arrival, or his 
'^lame would doubtless have been found in the long list of colonial 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 229 

rulers, to which I have already alluded, whose unfitness for gov- 
erning has presented no obstacle to their preferment. 

The Legislature of New York followed in the footsteps of 
Massachusetts, so contagious is had. example, and passed, an act, 
declaring its inalienable rights, «fec., which met with a similar 
reception in England, and was disallowed. At the same time a 
similar scene took place in Connecticut, that exhibits in a very- 
striking light the determination of the people to submit to no 
interference whatever. For the purpose of insuring more unity 
of action in the event of invasion. Governor Fletcher, of New 
York, was vested with plenary powers of commanding the whole 
militia of Connecticut, and insisted on the exercise of that com- 
mand ; the Legislature, knowing that authority to be expressly 
given to the colony by charter, would not submit to his requisition, 
but desirous of effecting a compromise, sent an agent to New 
York to make an arrangement, until his Majesty's pleasure should 
be further known. No terms, however, could be made with the 
governor, short of an implicit obedience of the militia to his au- 
thority. On the 26th of October, he came to Hartford, while the 
Assembly was sitting, and in his Majesty's name demanded sub- 
mission. The Assembly resolutely persisted in a refusal. After 
the requisition had been repeatedly made, with plausible explana- 
tions, and serious menaces, Fletcher ordered his commission and 
instructions to be read to the train-bands of Hartford, which had 
prudently assembled on the occasion. Wadsworth, the senior 
officer, who was at that moment exercising them, instantly or- 
dered the drums to beat, which in a moment overwhelmed every 
voice ; the governor then commanded silence, but no sooner was 
a second attempt made to read, than Wadsworth vociferated the 
same order to the drummers, who instantly beat up again with 
redoubled energy. At the first pause he called out again : 
" Drum, drum," and turning to his Excellency, said : " If I am 
interrupted again, sir, I will make the sun shine through you in 
a moment." To avoid personal outrage he was obliged to return 
to New York, when, to his infinite mortification, he was soon 
after informed, by the crown lawyers of England, that the control 
of the militia legally belonged to the colony, as Charles II. had 
divested himself, by his ireckless grant, of every particle of authority 
whatever. 

The effects of the recent political changes in England were 



230 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

visible all over the Anglo-American continent. In addition to 
the instances of intractability, just referred to, even Pennsylvania, 
though opposed to carnal, was willing to indulge in political con- 
flicts, and bartered her money for the support of government, "on 
the express condition of settling the people in their former consti- 
tution." Maryland, more obedient than many others, still re- 
solved, " that the great charter of England should be observed in 
all points." Two new doctrines were promulgated, and found 
willing advocates every where, one (which originated with a 
Puritan minister of Boston) was : " That they were not bound in 
conscience to obey English laws, as they were-'^'t^-^presented in 
Parliament :" the other was : " That colonists "^'.re as much 
Englishmen, as the inhabitants of that country ; and therefore 
had a right to all the same privileges." 

The misconduct of Phipps and other governors, in conniving at 
the evasion of the law^s of trade, brought about at this period some 
very important changes. Complaints were constantly made to 
the ministry by governors who were unable to execute their or- 
ders, and by merchants whose "ommerce was injured by the total 
disregard of the colonists to the Navigation Acts. *' During the 
war," says Davenant, "the colonies have presumed, as it were, 
to set up for themselves, and to load their eflects on board of ships 
belonging to foreigners, and to trade directly with other nations ; 
sending them their commodities, and receiving from thence manu- 
factures, to the great damage of this kingdom." To meet the 
exigencies of the times, the Board of Trade was established in 
1696, of which the celebrated Locke was a member. This was 
a permanent commission, consisting of a president and eleven 
members, known as " Lords of Trade," who succeeded to the 
authority and oversight hitherto exercised by plantation-com- 
mittees of the Privy Council. Subsequently the powers of this 
Board were somewhat curtailed, but down to the period of the 
American Revolution, it continued to exercise a general superin- 
tendence of the colonies, watching the Assemblies with a jealous 
eye, struggling hard to uphold the prerogatives of the king and 
authority of Parliament, laboring to strengthen the hands of the 
royal governors, and systematically to carry out the policy of 
rendering America completely subservient to the views which then 
prevailed of the commercial interests of the mother country. 
Parliament devoted a large portion of its sittings that year to 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 231 

American affairs. The House of Lords represented to the \dng 
that, " Having considered the state of the trade of this kingdom 
to the plantations, they had found many abuses of the several 
good laws made for their government, and very illegal practices 
carried on, to the great detriment of the kingdom, whereby the 
act lately passed had been greatly obstructed ;" they recom- 
mended therefore, " That the proprietaries should be obliged to 
give security in England, that their governors shall constantly 
obey the royal instructions for the execution of the laws ; and that 
courts of admiralty should be erected m the various plantations, 
in order that'^ ses against the laws of navigation might be no 
longer de, ^y judges and jurors, who were themselves often 

the greatest offenders." The proprietaries declined to give the 
security demanded of them, which they thought no law required ; 
the resolution of the peers, they considered, could not, however 
respectable, compel them to perform what they deemed in itself 
unreasonable, as their sovereign had the power of withholding his 
approbation from their appointments, and they pleaded their 
charters, in opj jsition to the r yal nomination of admiralty 
officers. Having heard their counsel, the crown lawyers determ- 
ined that no colonial patent prevented the king from establish- 
ing an admiralty jurisdiction wathin every dominion of the crown. 
The right of appeal from the colonial courts to the king in council 
w^as also sustained, and by this double means the mother country 
acquired at length a judicial control over the colonies, and with 
it a power, afterward imitated in the Federal Constitution of the 
United States, of bringing her authority to bear not only upon 
the colonies as political corporations but, what was much more 
effectual, upon the colonists as individuals. 

By a contemporaneous act of Parliament, the various statutes 
for carrying the acts of trade into effect were consohdated, and 
new and more stringent provisions were added. Any direct trade 
between Ireland and the plantations was totally prohibited, that 
country being put, in this respect, in a worse position than any in 
the world. The pretense w^as, that if trade of any sort was 
allowed, it would be made a cover for smugghng innumerable 
articles. An oath to enforce the acts of trade was imposed upon 
the governors of the chartered colonies, their appointment also 
was made subject to the royal approval ; all colonial statutes or 
usages conflicting with acts of trade, past or future, v/ere declare<? 



232 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 

void. The same powers were conferred on the king's revenue 
officers in America, which they possessed in England ; their 
number was increased, and at their head was placed, as surveyor- 
general, the active and persevering Randolph, so conspicuous 
formerly in the history of Massachusetts, 

Free trade soon made freebooters, who found (with the honor- 
able exception of Maryland) shelter for their ships, and provisions 
for themselves every where, among a sanctimonious people, who 
while they piteously sighed over their offensive occupation, 
encouraged it by purchasing their plunder, and it was with great 
difficulty and expense that piracy was finally suppressed. 

After a long interval, in which the deputy and lieutenant- 
governors administered the affairs of the state, Lord Bellamont 
arrived at Boston, and w^as duly sworn into office. He also had 
the mortification to find that he had no fixed salary, and that his 
official income depended upon an annual vote in the Legislature, 
a humiliating position that opened a door to constant annoyances, 
and enabled the two Houses to make it his interest to neglect his 
duty, by starving him into submission. In the subsequent ad- 
ministrations, it became the rallying point for the two contending 
parties of Patriots and Loyalists, and excited contentions, in 
which the authority of the Crown was gradually weakened, and 
its dignity greatly diminished. He experienced, however, no 
difficulty on this subject himself, and as there was but little that 
occurred in his time, bearing on the subject of this inquiry, we 
might dismiss him, with this short notice. But he was a man in 
advance of the age in which he lived, and we may spare a 
moment to pause and admire him. 

He was a true specimen of a great liberal governor. He made 
the most of his rank by his great condescension and suavity of 
manner ; he was accessible at all times, and affable and courteous 
on all occasions. Although an Episcopalian, he professed to 
entertain most tolerant opinions on the subject of dissent, and a 
special respect for Congregational churches, and their pastors, and 
above all a most pious horror of Popery. He avoided any thing 
like controversy with individuals, or either branch of the Legisla- 
ture, and what he could not obtain by address, he refused to 
secure by compulsion. He attended the weekly lectures at the 
principal conventicle, and listened with the utmost attention, and 
evident edification, to the long, confused, and prosy compositions 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 233 

of the divines. On one occasion, when returning from a self- 
imposed penance of this kind, he thus addressed an apothecary, 
whom he saw standing near the door of his dispensary — " Oh I 
doctor, you have lost a precious sermon to-day." "Yes, my 
lord," was the equivocal reply ; " I have, but if I could get only 
half as much by being there as your lordship will, I should have 
attended also." This double entendre deserved and received a 
most gracious smile of approbation. 

He was the first governor, who, in imitation of the Lord 
Lieutenant of Ireland, opened the Legislature by delivering a 
formal written address. It was a novelty, and as such not likely 
to be acceptable to a people who disliked all innovation on their 
established forms ; but while it well comported with his dignity, 
it conferred additional weight and importance on themselves, and 
was therefore approved. He knew how much the family of the 
Stuarts was dreaded and hated in New England, and how 
acceptable a censure upon them and their principles would be. 
His first and last speech was filled with pious horror at their 
religion, and patriotic indignation at their arbitrary conduct. 
His lordship was only fourteen months in the province, when he 
went to New York. For this short period the Assembly voted 
£2500, an infinitely larger sum than any of his predecessors ever 
received, or any of his successors could obtain, even when the 
inhabitants were more numerous, and more opulent ; and money, 
when compared with the necessaries of life, had become less 
valuable. To engage the attention in this manner of the cold 
and cautious Puritans, and set them gaping with wonder and 
delight, while their pockets were emptied of their contents, was 
a it?at of professional skill, which does equal honor to his lord- 
ship's dexterity, and to his sound liberal principles. 

The government was now conferred upon Mr. Dudley, who 
had been the first president, after the loss of the charter, and who 
thereby rendered himself so unpopular, that when Sir Edmund 
Andross, M^as seized and sent to England, he was also imprisoned 
and transported with him, to take his trial. As a governor of 
Massachusetts, the selection M'as unfortunate. It was known 
that from fortuitous circumstances, he was obnoxious to his 
countrymen ; and the slightest knowledge of human nature, 
would have suggested to the Ministry, that in a small and isolated 
community like Massachusetts, he would have to encounter the 



231 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

jealousy of rivals, the hatred of party (when his opinions were all 
known) and the odium arising from personal infirmities, from 
which no man ever was, or can be exempt. As a ruler of any 
other American colony, no man could be better qualified than he 
was. Intimately acquainted with American feeling and preju- 
dices, he knew how to respect the one, and how to avoid shocking 
the other. He w^as well informed as to their wants, the re- 
sources, and the common danger to which they were all exposed, 
from the Indian tribes and their French neighbors. A lawyer, a 
man of business and talents, and above all a colonist, having a 
sympathy with the people, who were his countrymen, and an 
afiection for the continent where his lot and that of his children 
were cast, his interest was identified with those on whom he was 
to exercise jurisdiction, while his desire to serve the Crown, was 
restrained from running into tyranny by the knowledge that 
while he abrogated the rights of the inhabitants, he was restrict- 
ing the liberty of his own posterity. 

To appoint a colonist to preside over his native province, for 
the reasons above stated, would at any time, be a hazardous ex- 
periment ; but there is no class of men so competent, and so 
desirable for those at a distance, while at the same time no course 
of policy could be more conciliatory and grateful. The experi- 
ment, however, was not doomed to be often tried. When the 
office became worth having, needy dependents at home found that 
family connection or parliamentary interest, was a better recom- 
mendation than experience or ability, and politicians discovered 
that the greatest advantage of a colony, was that it presented a 
field for patronage. 

The republican or patriot party, availing themselves of the un- 
popularity of the governor, gained the ascendency in the Legisla- 
ture. Their first step was to choose a Speaker personally offensive 
to him, and when he rejected him, to deny his right under the 
charter to do so. By special instructions from England, he laid 
three commands of his Majesty before them. First, the rebuild- 
ing a fort in Maine, which had become dilapidated ; second, the 
erection of another in the same territory, as a check upon the 
Indians and French ; and thirdly, establishing fixed and suitable 
salaries on the governor, and lieutenant-governor, and the judges ; 
but they refused all three, and the Council supported them in 
their contumacy. With respect to the last, they felt the advant- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 235 

age they had over those officers, and were determined to maintain 
it. They had lost the power of appointing them, and were 
resolved to render their situations of as little value as possible. 
The Ministry, on the other hand, with a neglience or timidity 
that it is difficult to comprehend, suffered this degrading subject 
of annual discussion to be continued. The Assembly accordingly 
voted very small sums for the year for this purpose, and reduced 
the proportion appropriated to the representative of royalty to the 
smallest amount possible. 

The Patriot party were predetermined on every species of an- 
noyance in their power, and when so unjust a feeling exists, 
scruples as to the means are seldom found to be any eflectual im- 
pediment. A small vessel had been sent with a flag of truce to 
Nova Scotia, for the exchange of prisoners, and after a protracted 
voyage returned with only seventeen ; and being again ordered 
on the same duty, procured the release of seven more. It was 
immediately whispered about the country, that the ill success 
of the application, and the unusual length of time spent in the 
negotiation, was owing to the captain having, under the protec- 
tion of the flag of truce, been engaged in trading with the enemy, 
and furnishing them with supplies — the governor not only being 
privy to it, but participating in the profits. The House imme- 
diately voted that it was a fit subject for parliamentary inquiry, 
as the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction in such a case, and put 
the master, and five other persons supposed to be implicated, upon 
their trial, and thereby placed his Excellency in the dilemma 
they so much desired. If he should interfere to stop their pro- 
ceedings, the inference would naturally be drawn by the whole 
province that he was a ]particeps criminis, ; and if he suffered the 
inquiry to proceed, it was possible some of the prisoners, to save 
themselves, might be induced to join in an accusation against him. 
There was as little evidence against the parties charged with 
treason, as there was ground for supposing the governor had any 
knowledge, or even suspicion, of their harboring such a design. 
They were all, however, found guilty. The captain was fined 
twelve hundred pounds, and incapacitated from ever holding office 
in the colony. It was even proposed to compel him to sit on the 
gallows for an hour with a rope round his neck, but this igno- 
minious part of the punishment was afterward withdrawn. The 
fines imposed on the others were equally excessive. Six laws 



236 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

were then drawn up to legalize these measures, and passed with 
as little delay as possible, but were all very properly disallowed 
in England ; and this infamous act of oppression, and the cruel 
and wicked insinuations against the governor, confirmed and 
strengthened, rather than impaired, his influence with the Minis- 
try. To the contumacy of the House was added the insolence 
of the preachers, who endeavored to recover their lost popularity 
with the Patriots by warmly espousing their cause, and lending 
the weight of their names to foment the general discontent. To 
promote this object they ridiculed the governor in their public 
ministrations, their intercourse with the people, and printed 
pamphlets, and annoyed him with the most abusive and insolent 
letters. =^ 

The object of this part of the work, as we have seen, is to show 
that lor the first half century after its settlement, Massachusetts, 
to all intents and purposes, was a republic ; that when it was 
subsequently merged into a government in which royalty had 
some share, that small portion was never submitted to willingly, 
and was only permitted to exist until the people were able to ex- 
tinguish it altogether. In selecting such portions of the annals 

* In the third volume of the "Massachusetts Historical Collections" are pre- 
served some extraordinary specimens of the latter, written by Increase and 
Cotton Mather. The governor replied to these meddling divines with becoming 
spirit, as will be seen by the following extract : 

"Roxburg, February 3, 1707-8. 

" Gentlemen. — Yours of the 20th instant I received, and the contents, both 
as to matter and manner, astonish me to the last degree. I must think you 
have extremely forgotten your own station, as well as my character; otherwise 
it had been impossible to have made such an open breach upon all the laws of 
decency, honor, justice, and Christianity, as you have done in treating me with 
an air of contempt and superiority, which would have been greatly culpable 
toward a Christian of the lowest orders, and is insufferably rude toward one 
whom Divine Provideuce has honored with the character of your governor. 

" In many of the matters of fact you labor under great mistakes, which have 
been taken up with great credulity ; and indeed you have raked together what- 
ever has been imputed to me these many years, either through prejudice or 
mistake, and seem to think the bruit of a town a sufficient foundation to build a 
charge on. As to some other things contained in your charge, I can not esteem 
you competent judges. The articles are so many contained in your letters, that 
it would be endless to labor your satisfaction by writing, which you must not 
further expect from me. In the mean time I expect you, as subjects of the 
CLueen, us Christians, as messengers of the gospel of peace, to lay aside all 
methods to blow up sedition, or abet such criminal reports of maladministration 
as tend to debauch the minds of her Majesty's good subjects of this province from 
their duty and allegiance." 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 237 

of this period as illustrate this position, it is somewhat difficult to 
decide what shall be brought forward and what rejected. To go 
at large into the investigation, would be to write a history of New 
England : to preserve so much only as is necessary to support the 
theory, necessarily gives the narrative somewhat of a disjointed 
appearance. It is an evil, however, incident to the inquiry ; and 
it would seem on the whole better, perhaps, to err on the side of 
brevity, than to overload the work with particulars, that may 
weary the reader with their minuteness, or are too provincial to 
interest his attention. 

The governor retained his office for about fourteen years, or 
until the accession of George I., when he was superseded, by the 
appointment of Colonel Shute, an experienced officer, who had 
served under William III. and the Duke of Marlborough. Mr. 
Dudley's firmness, attention to business, irapartiahty, and general 
information, made him a most useful, and latterly a respected 
governor ; and had he been employed any where else but in his 
native province, he would doubtless have been held up as a 
model for the imitation of others. Colonel Shute was soon found 
to be deficient in the constitutional information, prudent firmness, 
and tact that distinguished his predecessor, and the republican 
party obtained an easy victory over him. 

One of the first steps taken by the House, in order to carry 
out their chartered rights to the fullest extent, was to pass an act 
imposing a tonnage duty on English shipping, and a tax on the 
importation of British and West India productions, which, being 
incautiously assented to by the governor, drew down upon him a 
reprimand from the king. Notwithstanding this well known 
fact, they sent the same bill to the Council the following year, 
which caused some acrimonious discussion. In 1720 they elected 
for their Speaker a person with whom they knew the governor 
had had a serious rupture, in order to irritate and annoy him. 
This choice he declined to confirm ; and as they persisted in 
refusing {nem. con.) to proceed to a new election, he dissolved 
them. At their next meeting they evaded a renewal of the 
contest on this point, but sent him a remonstrance on the sub- 
ject of his veto, re-asserting their right, and concluding with 
these words : " And we earnestly hope and desire that the prov- 
ince may never have an Assembly that will willingly forego such 
a valuable privilege, as King William and Queen Mary of ever 



23S THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

blessed memory graciously favored the province with, when they 
gave their royal assent to a law directing and governing the 
afiairs." 

Their next step was to insist upon the local appointment of all 
notaries, who had hitherto received their commission from the 
Archbishop of Canterbury ; and, to manifest their repugnance to 
even the appearance of royal authority, they resolved that for 
the future no public money should be expended at times of public 
rejoicings, which was intended to embrace such events as the 
king's birth-day, accession, coronation, and similar occasions. 
They then reduced the governor's salary, notwithstanding it had 
already been greatly diminished by the depreciated state of the 
currency. In the mean time their resistance to the prerogative, 
and stout maintenance of the assumed rights, became so popular, 
that at their next session they passed a resolution for going to war 
with the Indians, for raising troops for the purpose, the appoint- 
ment of a sheriff to accompany them, and also for the appoint- 
ment of inspectors, with power to visit forts, muster the soldiers, 
and so on, without the concurrence of the English aristocrat, as they 
called the governor. 

In the session of 1721 the governor, by instructions from home, 
recommended them to adopt five different measures of pressing 
importance, among which was one to make permanent provision 
for the support of the king's representative and the judges, to 
all of which they returned him a distinct refusal. Their next 
attempt at an invasion of the prerogative, was an endeavor to 
induce the Council to join them in issuing a proclamation for the 
observance of a fast, and thereby anticipate the governor, and 
supersede his authority. The Council dechned to concur with 
them, alleging that they could find no precedent to justify them, 
to which they replied, " that if such things had not the sanction 
of the whole Court, people would not be liable to punishment for 
disobedience." His Excellency desirous of maintaining, if possi- 
ble, a good understanding with them, as far as was compatible 
with his responsibility to the Crown, deviated from his usual 
course, and inserted in his proclamation the words, " by and with 
the advice of his Council, and upon a motion of the House of 
Representatives." But republican feeling and prejudice are not 
easily conciliated by royal condescension. Courtesy is a term 
not understood where the power is all on one side ; unconditional 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 239 

surrender and submission are the only admissible terms. The 
House refused to join in any compromise, and not only declared 
that they never had made any such motion, but expressly ordered 
their members not to promulgate any copies of the mandate 
among their respective constituencies. 

The people now adopted the views of their delegates, and the 
advice of their clergy, and returned the same members to the 
next house, with strict injunctions to reduce the " foreign despot" 
to a mere nulhty. They again elected for Speaker the same 
man whom he had before negatived, and to prevent him from 
having the opportunity of expressing his disapprobation, altered 
the form of the message, and addressed it to Governor and Council 
jointly, informing them that they had chosen their Speaker, and 
■were now ready to proceed to business. His Excellency, who 
had some skillful advisers about him, affected to misunderstand 
their meaning, and assuming that they thereby admitted his 
right, and requested his approbation, much to their surprise, in- 
formed them that he confirmed their election. 

Many minor acts occurred, evincing the same spirit of encroach- 
ment and insubordination. But one is worthy of record, as an 
evidence of the untractable temper of the people, on whatever 
side they were ranged. During the prayer, with which their 
proceedings were invariably opened, it w^as observed that an old 
royalist, of the name of Philip Tabor sat, instead of standing up, 
as was customary. Upon being asked by the Speaker, why he 
adopted this unusual course, he replied, that their conduct had 
been so extraordinary of late that he felt he could not address his 
Maker by the name of " our Father," as it Xvas impossible he 
could be the parent of such rebellious children. The house 
immediately resolved that " he be expelled, as unworthy to be a 
member thereof." The dispute relative to the governor's salary 
increased in violence every year, until at last they refused to con- 
sider the vote at all, until after the period elapsed for his signify- 
ing his assent or dissent to the bills they had already passed. 
They also adjourned themselves for a week, for which they were 
again dissolved. 

At the following session they chose the same obnoxious Speaker, 
and sent a message to the governor, informing him of it. He re- 
turned them a written approval of their selection, but the House 
informed him, they had merely given him the notice out of re- 



240 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

spect, but that they did not require his sanction. In the mean- 
time, the opinion of the Attorney-general of England, in favor 
of the governor's right to veto the appointment of a Speaker, 
and the approbation of the Lords Commissioners of Trade of the 
governor's conduct, having arrived, he laid them before the As- 
sembly ; but they w^ere -unwilling to be bound by them. They 
prepared a remonstrance, in which they justified their conduct, 
and that of the other Assemblies, in this matter, and declared, 
that with all due deference to so high a legal authority, they still 
claimed, and insisted on their right of solely electing and constitu- 
ting their Speaker. The salary of the governor was still further 
reduced to one hundred and eighty pounds sterling, for the half 
year, although his instructions required him to insist on a perma- 
nent provision of one thousand per annum ; while a continual 
system of encroachment on the prerogative was ingeniously but 
perseveringly persisted in, until finding all ordinary and constitu- 
tional means fail, and having been shot at in his house, he sud- 
denly embarked for England, and formally lodged a complaint 
against the Assembly, under seven distinct heads. 

1. "In their behavior with respect to the trees reserved for 
masts for the Royal Navy. 

2. " For refusing to admit the governor's negative upon the 
choice of a Speaker. 

3. " Assuming power in the appointment of days of fasting and 
thanksgiving. 

4. "Adjourning themselves to a distant day, by their own 
act. 

5. " Dismantling forts, and directing the artillery and warlike 
stores to other than the custody of the Captain-general, or his 
order. 

6. " Suspending military officers, and refusing their pay. 

7. " Appointing committees of their own to direct and muster 
his Majesty's forces." 

An explanatory charter was the consequence of these com- 
plaints, expressly conferring the right to negative the choice of 
a Speaker, and limiting the power of the House to adjourn itself 
to two days at any one time. But the main objects in dispute 
were left undecided. 

Preferring a pension, and retirement into private life, to re-as- 
suming the government of a turbulent and factious people, Col- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 241 

onel Shute very wisely relinquished the office, and remained in 
England. Mr. Burnet, late Governor of New York and the 
Jerseys, was appointed his successor. He was son of the cele- 
brated Bishop Burnet, and was a man of great quickness of parts, 
amiable, of great firmness of purpose, and unimpeachable charac- 
ter. The whole term of his administration was occupied by the 
wearisome contest about his salary, which so efTectually destroyed 
his domestic comfort, that he injured his health, and finally fell 
a victim to it, and died in the colony. On his first assuming the 
government he informed them that his instructions were per- 
emptory, not to accept any thing short of a permanent and fixed 
salary, during his continuance in office, and that he should inflex- 
ibly adhere to them. The Assembly knew that his private for- 
tune was inadequate to his support, and therefore meanly hoped, 
by supplying his temporary wants, to induce him to waive a 
strict obedience to his orders, and accordingly voted him a most 
liberal provision for the current year, M'hich they accompanied 
with an address, repeating the old hackneyed abstract : " Un- 
doubted right of Englishmen to raise and apply money for the 
support of government," announcing their willingness to give an 
honorable and ample provision ; but expressing their conviction, 
that it would be most beneficial for his Majesty's service to do 
so, without establishing a fixed salary. The governor, who was 
as much distinguished for readiness as ability, answered, that 
the right of Englishmen could never entitle them to do wrong ; 
that their privilege of rajsmg money was by charter expressed to 
be by wholesome and reasonable laws and directions, consequent- 
ly not such as were hurtful to the constitution, and the ends of 
government ; that the mode in which they proposed to provide 
for him could not be honorable, for it deprived him of his un- 
doubted right as an Enghshman, and the king's representative, 
to exercise his judgment, or compelled him to remain without 
support ; and appealed to their own consciences, whether, upon 
iorraer occasions, they had not withheld the allowance, until cer- 
tain bills were passed, and whether they had not sometimes, 
made the grant contingent upon the allowance of such bills ; and 
concluded by telling them, if they really intended from time to 
time to grant him an honorable support, they could have no just 
objection to making th^ir purposes eflectual by at once fixing the 
amount, for he never would accept it in any other form. They 

L 



242 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

however avowed their determination to adhere to their decision, 
and he remained unpaid. 

It would be tedious to follow this subject further into detail. 
The people of Boston, at a general meeting of the inhabitants, 
passed a resolution, approving of the proceedings of the House ; 
and by their violent conduct overawed those who were for pre- 
serving an understanding between the several branches of the 
Legislature. The governor, with some humor, observed, that 
there might possibly be some charm in a name, or some hidden 
meaning in selecting it, and as Salem and Concord were both 
within a reasonable distance, he would convoke the Legislature 
successively to those places, where they would be beyond the 
reach of the turbulent inhabitants of the capital. The first was 
tried with no better success ; after which they were directed to 
assemble at Cambridge. At the latter place, a detailed report 
of the committee of the Privy Council was exhibited to them, in 
which his Excellency's conduct was as highly approved as that 
of the local assembly was condemned, and the whole matter was 
recommended to be submitted to Parliament. The revolutionary 
feeling, however, was too strong to be influenced either by reason 
or fear. Instead of retracing their steps, they determined to 
persevere, and appointed an agent in England to defend their 
conduct, and voted a salary to him, in preference to the governor. 
Burnet, embarrassed in his means, and hampered and oppressed 
by this continued and offensive struggle, fell at last, as we have 
seen, a victim to the imbecility of the home, and the implaca- 
bility of the local powers. The Assembly ordered an honorable 
public funeral, many of the Patriots observing, with Puritanical 
charity, that a dead governor was better than a living tyrant, 
and that burying the representative of royalty was an expense 
which the public would defray with great pleasure. 

While these disputes were disturbing the peace of Massachu- 
setts, similar difficulties occurred at New York, and Governor 
Hunter, " tired," as he said, " of begging his bread," and finding 
that the threats of the Board of Trade, and of parliamentary 
interference, were viewed in the light of " bullying letters," con- 
descended to obtain by intrigue, and a high-handed exercise of 
power and patronage, what he could not procure by constitu- 
tional means. 

Mr. Belcher was appointed to succeed to the vacant command 



I 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 243 

in Massachusetts, August, 1730. Warned and irritated by the 
defeat of preceding governors, the king furnished him with much 
stronger instructions than had ever yet been given, on the disputed 
subject of the salary. He was told : " if the Assembly refuse to 
comply, his Majesty will be under the necessity of laying the 
undutiful behavior of the province before the Legislature of Great 
Britain, not only in this single instance, but in many others of 
the same nature and tendency ; whereby it manifestly appears, 
that the Assembly for many years past has attempted, by unwar- 
rantable practices, to weaken, if not cast off, the obedience they 
owe to the Crown, and the dependence which all colonies ought 
to have on the mother country." He was also instructed that, 
"His Majesty expects that they do forthwith comply with this 
proposal, as the last signification of His Royal pleasure, and that 
you do come over immediately to this kingdom of Great Britain, 
in order to give him an exact account of all that shall have passed 
upon this subject, that he may lay the same before Parhament." 
He was not more fortunate, however, than his predecessors, and 
finding at last that the General Court would riot recede from their 
resolution against settling a salary, he directed his exertions to 
procuring an establishment during his continuance in office ; but 
after flattering prospects of succeeding thus far, he failed even in 
this, and thenceforth gave up all idea of carrying the measure. 
He finally obtained leave of the Crown to accept such terms as 
should be granted, and so terminated, for this time, one of the 
most memorable conflicts between the Crown and the province, 
which its political history hitherto affords. 

In this struggle, we may see a precedent never forgotten in 
the colonies, of the ultimate success of agitation, whenever spirit- 
edly pursued for any length of time ; of the want of firmness in 
the British Government, even in those matters in which it has 
both reason and justice on its side ; and of the facility with which 
her friends who consistently support imperial control and prerog- 
ative rights, are abandoned to the triumph of their enemies, and 
the unpopularity and odium necessarily attending the advocacy 
of measures opposed to the passions and prejudices of the people. 
Extorted concessions are regarded as acts of necessity, and not 
benevolence, and are neither entitled to, nor receive gratitude, 
while the abandonment of allies, without reward or protection, is 
an act of treachery, that not only repels future confidence, but 



244 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

increases the relative forces of the enemy, by detaching indignant 
and injured adherents. jNow that the main question of a per- 
manent salary was abandoned, the office became of httle vaUie, 
in point of emolument, while the increased impulse given to re- 
publicanism by the surrender of principle, rendered it still less 
desirable, from the perpetual struggle of parties. 

Up to this period every candid person must admit that the 
American colonists had nothing to complain of; the only just 
cause of regret being one, which they regarded as their greatest 
happiness, namely, ignorance or indifference on the part of En- 
gland of what they were doing, and a total neglect, arising in 
part from these causes, and in part from inability to bestow 
her attention on any thing else than her own more immediate 
concerns. A century had thus been allowed to elapse before the 
advantages of colonies began to be appreciated, or their forms 
of government properly adjusted, during which period a feeling 
had arisen of great repugnance to imperial control on the one 
hand, and a distrust of the tendency of Americans to republicanism 
on the other. New generations had grown up, on either side of 
the water, who knew nothing of each other ; whose interests 
were apparently as distant as their respective positions, and who 
scarcely felt or acknowledged those ties of friendship, that could 
alone bind them together. 

One would naturally suppose that after such an experience of 
colonization, ending in so fatal a result as the American Revo- 
lution, Great Britain would have avoided the effects of similar 
ignorance or neglect, if it were not, unfortunately, but too plain 
that the lessons of history, like personal experience, are of little 
use to any but the immediate actors. People, living near to- 
gether like the English, and inhabiting the same country, know 
as little of each other as if the sea rolled between them. Such 
are the advances of civilization, and such the effects of constitu- 
tional changes of modern times, that the country may now be 
said, for all practical purposes, to possess but two orders, as of old, 
the rich and the poor ; for the middle class is nearly absorbed by 
one or the other of these great bodies. There is now an aristoc- 
racy of wealth among the untitled manufacturers, as well as of 
land among the peers, and there is a third of letters and of talent, 
that limits the sphere and the power of both, by raising or re- 
ducing them to its own level ; while the ramifications of the 



THE ENGLISH IN AxMERICA. 245 

lower class are extended far into the ground hitherto occupied by 
the middle orders. Social distinctions are still well defined, and 
palpable enough, though by no means so strong as formerly. 
Politically considered, therefore, there are but two classes among 
the people of England, but how little does either know of the 
other. Where is there a body in the world so distinguished for 
its ability, learning, high religious and honorable feelings, its 
munificence in all public undertakings, and its unbounded charity 
in the social relations of private life, as the aristocracy of En- 
gland ? On the other hand, where is there a population possess- 
ing such manly independence of conduct, and patient endurance 
of trial and privation, and such an obedient submission to con- 
stituted authority, and so many of those virtues that adorn and 
dignify the character of man, as the lower orders of Englishmen ? 
Yet they are so wide apart, the line of distinction and demarka- 
tion is so strong, that they neither know each other's value, nor 
do justice to each other's integrity. Too many of the poor regard 
the lords as men devoted to pleasure, possessing the means, and 
indulging the excesses of profligacy, and squandering the hard 
earnings of the laborer in riotous living. While the noble, on his 
part, looks at the dark cloud that envelops the lowly dwellings, and 
conceals the persons of the poor, with instinctive fear. The sound 
of many voices fills him with dread, lest it should be the distant 
thunder that forbodes the storm ; and when he recollects that the 
highway robber, the murderer, the incendiary, and the burglar, 
lie hidden in the loathsome dens of destitute and hopeless wretch- 
edness, he is but too apt to associate the idea of poverty with 
crime. There is no Atlantic to divide and keep them apart ; 
but there is a neutral ground that lies between them, occupied by 
a banditti of Irish agitators, English free traders, free-thinkers, 
demagogues, and political adventurers, that cut ofi^all intercourse 
and intercept all mutual correspondence. Their daily subsistence 
is derived from the credulous support of the poor ; while the fer- 
tile regions of the rich afford valuable prizes to their fraudulent 
speculations, or their violent forays. They have impoverished 
both. Under the wicked pretense of cheap bread, they have 
lowered the wages of the laborer, and at the same time, by caus- 
ing a reduction of rents, and of the value of real estate, liave dis- 
abled benevolence from giving employment to the industrious 
poor. The ground these unprincipled people occupy, pertains to 



246 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

the Church, and the sooner she is enabled to recover possession 
of it, and by salutary example, and sound teaching, to root out 
these pernicious intruders, the better for the peace, prosperity, 
and happiness of the nation. 

If such a state of ignorance exists among the population of a 
country like England, as to the character, condition, feelings, and 
wants of its several orders, we may cease to wonder that so little 
was formerly known of the colonies, by those whose interest and 
duty it was to inform themselves. But though the history of 
republicanism in America may excite but little interest among 
statesmen, as to the remaining provinces, with which they appear 
utterly incapable of dealing, it may be a salutary study to those 
visionary men in Europe, who have the vanity to think that they 
are able to copy the admirable form of government of the United 
States, or can find a country fitted for it, or a people who have 
the knowledge, perseverance, coolness, or skill to keep it in oper- 
ation and repair. 



CHAPTER III. 

SKETCH OF POLITICAL EVENTS FROM 1740 TO 1763. 

Review of the State of the Colonies from the Commencement of the Century — 
Trade, Imports, and Exports — Attempts at domestic Manufactures discour- 
aged — Provincials prohibited from exporting Wool from one Colony to an- 
other, or to foreign Countries— State of the Church of England in America- 
Attempt of the Society for Propagating the Gospel to introduce Bishops, 
grossly misrepresented— Alarm felt at the Spread of Church Principles, in Con- 
sequence of the Secession of several eminent Dissenting Divines— A Man 
fined fifty Pounds for maintaining that no other but Episcopal Ordination was 
vahd — Universal Disregard of the Laws of Trade — Rebellion in Carolina — 
Establishment of a General Post Office— Opposition to it— Proposed Scheme 
for confederating all the Colonies— Its Details— The Plan very similar to that 
of General Government — Frequent Assembhes of General Officers and Gover- 
nors suggest the Idea of Congress — Dispute between Lord Loudon and the 
General Court about Supplies for the Troops— Attack on the Judges, and also 
the Custom House Officers— Question as to Legality of Writs of Assistance- 
Speech of Mr. Otis— Peace of 17G3. 

In order to preserve the account entire of the controversy 
about fixed salaries, many incidental matters of interest have been 
omitted, which if now thrown together in a retrospective review 
will enable us to judge of the state of the colonies during the last 
forty years. The trade of the provinces, notwithstanding the 
restrictions to which it was subject, was greatly augmented. In 
the latter years of WiUiam III. the annual exports of the prov- 
inces to England amounted to about £320,000. The imports 
were nearly the same. The traffic with Europe, the West 
Indies, the Canaries, and the Azores, the greater part of which 
was illicit, was estimated at about an equal amount. The 
"plantation duties" collected in the colonies were sufficient to 
pay the expense of the custom-house estabhshment, and to leave 
a net surplus of £1200 a year. 

Schemes continued to be indulged in America for the encour- 
agement of domestic manufactures ; but these enterprises, and 
the acts of the Assemblies for promoting them, were regarded in 
Great Britain with much jealousy. Woolen cloths, at that time, 
were the chief English production for exportation. A law, de- 



248 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

tsigned to cramp this business in the colonies, prohibited the 
transport of domestic woolens from one province to another, or the 
export of colonial wool or cloth to any Ibreign market. 

At the commencement of the century, the venerable Society for 
Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts was incorporated. No 
religious association, perhaps, in the world, has produced so much 
good, or is at this moment diffusing so much benefit over the dis- 
tant parts of the empire. Although its first efforts were com- 
paratively feeble, from the state of its funds, its salutary influence 
was visible in the extension of the Church, and the dissemination 
of good sound principles. Throughout the colonies new congre- 
gations were forming, and additional pastors demanded. At last 
the Society became sensible of the error that had originally been 
committed, and was still allowed to continue, in its missionary 
work in America, in not placing the clergy under proper episcopal 
control. To remedy this evil, it was proposed to send over 
bishops. But knowing the imputations to which their conduct 
would be subject, and the misrepresentations of their motives, 
which would be maliciously invented, and vindictively circulated, 
they stated the object they had in view, and the limited extent 
of jurisdiction they required. 

They assured the colonists, 1st, " That no coercive power is 
desired over the laity in any case, but only a power to regulate 
the behavior of the clergy who are in episcopal orders, and to cor- 
rect and punish them according to the laws of the Church of 
England, in case of misbehavior or neglect of duty, wdth such 
power as the commissaries have exercised. 2. That nothing is 
desired for such bishops that may in the least interfere with the 
dignity, authority, or interest of the governor or any other officer 
of state. Probates of wills, license for marriage, &c., to be left 
in the hands where they are, and no share in the temporal 
government is desired for bishops. 3. The maintenance of such 
prelates not to be at the charge of the colonies. 4. No bishops 
are intended to be settled in places where the government is in 
the hands of Dissenters, as in New England, &;c., but authority to 
be given only to ordain clergy for such Church of England con- 
gregations as are among them, and to inspect into the manners 
and behavior of such clergy, and to confirm the members thereof." 
As the Society feared, their avowal awakened a storm of 
sectarian opposition and abuse, that unfortunately terrified them 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 249 

from proceeding with their laudable and necessary plan of giving 
effect to the teaching and discipline of the Church. It was ob- 
served every where that Episcopalians were loyal subjects and 
averse to those schemes of separation, which were now becoming 
so general and so popular ; but the secession of several eminent 
dissenting ministers alarmed the Puritans still more. The Con- 
necticut College, transferred from Saybrook to New Haven, and 
named Yale after one of its early benefactors, had been latterly 
intrusted to the rectorship of the Rev. Timothy Cutler, a minister 
of talent and distinguished learning. To the surprise and alarm 
of the good people of New England, Cutler, with the tutor of the 
college and two neighboring ministers, took occasion, on a com- 
mencement-day, to avow conversion to Episcopacy — a lapse in 
which they persisted in spite of an elaborate, and, as the audience 
thought, most convincing argument set forth on the spur of the 
moment by the governor, Saltonstall, in favor of Congregation- 
alism. Cutler was forthwith excused from all further service as 
rector of the college, and provision was made for requiring of all 
future presidents satisfactory evidence of the soundness of their 
faith ifi opposition to Arminian and prelatical corruptions. 

This prompt discipline, and the vehement outcry raised against 
the deserters, terrified and stopped several others inclined, it was 
suspected, to join in the revolt. Defection, nevertheless, continued 
to spread. Cutler became rector of a new Episcopal Church in 
Boston. The dismissed ministers were maintained as missionaries 
by the Society, and a new element through their means, was 
gradually introduced into the religious system of Connecticut. 

The jealousy excited by the secessions in Connecticut, was 
evinced in Massachusetts by the trial of John Checkley, afterward 
ordained as an Episcopal missionary, and sent to preach in Rhode 
Island, for publishing Leslie's " Short and Easy Way with the 
Deists," with an appendix by himself, in which prelatic ordination 
was insisted upon as necessary to constitute a Christian minister. 

This publication was charged with tending " to bring into con- 
tempt and infamy the ministers of the Holy Gospel established 
by law within his Majesty's province of Massachusetts." The 
jury having found a special verdict stating the facts, the indict- 
ment was sustained by the Court, and Checkley was fined £50. 

At this period a spirit of insubordination, occasioned in part by 
restramt on their trade, but more by the improvident grant of 

L* 



250 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

patents that conveyed self-government to its fullest extent, was 
observable all over the continent. The Board of Trade thus 
officially reports of the chartered colonies to William, in March, 
1701 : "That so far from having answered the chief design for 
which such large immunities had been granted, they had not in 
general compHed with the late Acts of Parliament ; that they 
had not only assumed the poM'er of making by-laws, repugnant 
to those of England, and destructive to trade, but refused to sub- 
mit their acts for approval, or to allow appeals, and continued to 
be the retreat of pirates and illegal traders, and the receptacle of 
contraband merchandise. That by exempting their inhabitants 
from the customs paid by other plantations, these independent 
governments undermined the welfare of their neighbors, and, by 
lowering the value of coins, turned the course of trade to the pro- 
moting of woolen and other manufactures proper for England, 
contrary to the true intention of such establishments. That their 
irregularities, arising from the ill use they made of their charter, 
and the independency they pretend to, evince how necessary it 
becomes, more and more every day, to introduce such a regulation 
of trade, and such an administration of government, as shaU make 
them duly subservient to England. That since the royal com- 
mands had not been met with due obedience, it might be expedient 
to resume their charters, and to reduce them to the same depend- 
ency as other colonies, which will be best efTected by the legisla- 
tive power of this kingdom." A bill was accordingly introduced 
into Parliament, founded on this statement, but was allowed to 
be defeated by party, or neglected by ignorance or imbecility. 

This very success emboldened aggression. In the southern part 
of the continent, where the presence of the war was but little 
felt, there was nothing to divert men's minds from these petty local 
disputes which are generally acrimonious, as the population is lim- 
ited in number, and cut ofi^from frequent intercourse with the rest 
of the world. Carolina openly rebelled against the proprietors, and 
took the government into its own hands. An association was then 
formed among the people for uniting the whole province in oppo- 
sition to the proprietary ; and the inhabitants, with scarcely an 
exception, subscribed the instrument of union. Governor John- 
son, after a contest with the delegates on the subject, issued a 
proclamation for dissolving them, and retired to the country. 
The representatives ordered his proclamation to be torn from the 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 251 

marshal's hands, and proceeded to open usurpation. Assembling 
on their own authority, they chose James Moore, governor, and, 
on a fixed day, proclaimed him in the name of the king. They 
next chose twelve councilors, of whom Sir Hovenden Walker was 
the president, and thus formed a constitution of their own free 
choice. 

Johnson, the representative of the proprietary, having attempted 
to disconcert their measures, and create some embarrassment, now 
made his last and boldest effort for subjecting the colonists to his 
authority. He brought up the ships of war in front of Charles- 
ton, and threatened to destroy their capital if they persisted in 
refusing obedience to constituted authority. The people, however, 
having arms in their hands, and forts in their possession, bade 
defiance to his power, and he relinquished his attempt to enforce 
submission to the old government. Resistance was openly avowed 
and advocated in all cases where the interest or the pretensions 
of the provincials were interfered with. 

About the same time, the jealousy so long felt in England, of 
the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, found new expres- 
sion in a project for uniting these colonies with New Hampshire, 
into a single royal province ; but the people, with their usual 
pertinacity, declared their resolution to part with none of their 
privileges unless " wrenched from them." Even the Post Office 
offered a ground for alarm and resistance. As early as 1692, a 
patent had been granted to a person of the name of Neal, for 
establishing posts in America. The system introduced by him, 
had ever been irregular and imperfect, owing to the indifference 
or hostility of the people. At the expiration of this monopoly, in 
1710, an Act of Parliament extended in due form, the British 
Post Office- to America. The principal department was estab- 
lished at New York, to which letters were to be conveyed by 
regular packets across the Atlantic* The same Act regulated 
the rates of postage to be paid in the plantations, exempted the 
mail carriers from ferriage, and enabled the officers to recover 
their dues by summary process. So slow, however, was its pro- 

* The rates of postage, both packet and inland, were extremely moderate. 
On all letters from London to New York, and thence to London, it was — single. 
Is. ; double, 2s. ; treble, 3s. ; ounce, 4s. The rate of all letters from New York 
to auy place within sixty miles thereof, and thence to New York, was— single. 
id. ; double, 8d. ; treble, Is. ; ounce, is. id. 



252 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

gress, that eight years elapsed before it was extended to Virginia. 
Clamor instantly propagated objections to the principles of the 
Act of Parliament, as unconstitutional, and to the practice of the 
Post Office as inconvenient. Spotswood wrote to the Board of 
Trade, in June, 1718, that " the people were made to believe that 
the Parliament could not lay any tax (for so they called the rates 
of postage) on them, without the consent of the General Assem- 
bly. This gave a handle for framing some grievance against the 
new office, and thereupon a bill was passed by both councils and 
burgesses, which, though it acknowledged the Act of Parliament 
to be in force in Virginia, doth effectually prevent its ever being 
put in execution. V^hence your lordships may judge, how well- 
affected the major part of the Assemblymen are toward the col- 
lection of this branch of his Majesty's revenue." 

Morris gave information from New Jersey to the Board of 
Trade, in June, 1743, that " the delegates are generally so fond 
of the example of the Parliament of 1641, and of their neighbors 
in Pennsylvania and New England, that it is easy to see what 
Assemblies in these parts of the world are aiming at." To the 
Duke of Newcastle, he remarked, "it may, perhaps, seem strange 
to your Grace, that an American Assembly should make the pass- 
ing of any law a condition, sine qua 7ion, of supporting the Gov- 
ernment ; but to what lengths they will carry their endeavors, 
unless they meet with some more effectual check than they have 
done, my superiors can best judge." 

The Board of Trade reported that the Pennsylvanian Assembly 
having passed several acts, which were found to offend equally 
against natural justice, the laws of England, and the royal pre- 
rogative, containing the most dangerous claims, " that it was in 
vain to negotiate away his Majesty's authority, since every new 
concession becomes a foundation for some new demand, and that 
of some new dispute." It also complained of the obstacles thrown 
in the way of its obtaining information. " We can not conceal," 
they say, " the difficulty of procuring returns of the commercial 
affairs of New England, which will not appear extraordinary, 
when we acquaint your lordship that the Assembly of Massa- 
chusetts Bay had the boldness to summon Mr. Jeremiah Dunbar 
before them, and to pass a severe censure upon him, for having 
given evidence at the bar of the House of Commons, with regard 
to their trade and manufactures." 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 253 

To all these M^avnings, the Parliament was indifferent or inat- 
tentive, and the evil was allowed to extend itself to that degree, 
that when a remedy was attempted it was found to be incurable. 
The colonists, however, were fully alive to their interests, and 
lost no opportunity of advancing them. The most important 
subject at that time ever debated on this continent, was now 
fully considered in all its bearings, namely, a confederation of uU 
the provinces, M'ith a constitution as nearly as possible resem- 
bling that of the United States. This, doubtless, was suggested 
by the combination of the early plantations of New England, al- 
ready referred to, while this more perfect and better matured 
plan, served as a model first for Congress, and Convention, and 
then for the union of all the revolted colonies. 

The interest and importance of the subject justify and require 
a detailed notice of it. The Board of Trade ordered an assem- 
blage of delegates from all the Governments, to be held at some 
central place, for the purpose of considering the subject of Indian 
affairs. To this meeting, which took place at Albany, on the 
14th of June, 1754, six provinces sent commissioners. It is re- 
markable that Massachusetts not only empowered her delegates 
to act upon the object of the letter from the Lords Commissioners, 
but authorized them to enter into articles of union and confedera- 
tion with the other Governments, for the general defense of his 
Majesty's subjects and interests in North America, as well in 
time of peace, as in war. After mature deliberation, the follow- 
ing plan was agreed upon : 

'* It is proposed that humble application be made for an Act 
of Parliament of Great Britain, by virtue of which one general 
Government may be formed in America, including all the said 
colonies (Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut, 
Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina) ; within, and 
under which Government, each colony may retain its present 
constitution, except in the particulars wherein a change may be 
directed by the said Act, as hereafter follows : 

PRESIDENT-GENERAL AND GRAND COUNCIL 

" That the said General Government be administered by a 
President-general, to be appointed and supported by the Crown, 
and a Grand Council, to be chosen by the representatives of the 



254 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

people of the several colonies, met in their respective Assem- 
blies. 

ELECTION OF MEMBERS. 

" That within months after passing of such Acts, the House 

of Representatives that happen to be sitting M^ithin that time, 
or that shall be especially for the purpose convened, may and 
shall choose members for the Grand Council, in the following pro- 
portion, that is to say, Massachusetts Bay 7, New Hampshire 2, 
Connecticut 5, Rhode Island 2, New York 4, New Jersey 3, 
Pennsylvania 6, Maryland 4, Virginia 7, North Carolina 4, 
South Carolina 4 : Total 48. 

PLACE OF FIRST MEETING. 

" Who shall meet for the first time at the city of Philadelphia, 
in Pennsylvania, being called by the President-general as soon, 
as conveniently may be after his appointment. 

NEW ELECTION. 

" There shall be a new election of the members of the Grand 
Council, every three years, and on the death or resignation of 
any member, his place shall be supplied by a new choice, at the 
next sitting"of the Assembly of the colony he represented. 

PROPORTION OF THE MEMBERS AFTER THE FIRST THREE YEARS. 

" That after the first three years, when the proportion of money 
arising out of each colony to the general treasury can be known, 
the number of members to be chosen for each colony shall from 
time to time in all ensuing elections be regulated by that propor- 
tion (yet so as that the number to be chosen by any one province, 
be not more than seven or less than two) 

MEETINGS OF THE GRAND COUNCIL AND CALL. 

" That the Grand Council shall meet once in every year, and 
oftener, if occasion require, at such time and place, as they shall 
adjourn to, at the last preceding meeting, or as they shall be cal- 
led to meet at by the President-general on any emergency, he 
having first obtained in writing the consent of seven of the mem- 
bers to such call, and sent due and timely notice to the whole. 

CONTINUANCE. 

•' That the Grand Council have power to choose their Speaker, 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 255 

and shall neither be dissolved, prorogued, nor continued sitting 
longer than six weeks at one time, without their own consent, or 
the special command of the Crown. 

members' attendance. 
" That the members of the Grand Council shall be allowed for 
their services, ten shillings sterling per diem, during their session, 
and journey to and from the place of meeting, twenty miles to be 
reckoned a day's journey. 

ASSENT OF PRESIDENT-GENERAL AND HIS DUTY. 

"That the assent of the President-general be required to all 
acts of the Grand Council, and that it be his oifiee and duty to 
see them carried into execution. 

POWER OF THE PRESIDENT-GENERAL AND GRAND COUNCIL 

TREATY OF PEACE AND WAR. 

" That the President-general, with the advice of the Grand 
Council, hold or direct all Indian treaties, in which the general 
interest of the colonies may be concerned, and make peace or de- 
clare war with Indian natives. 

[The two next clauses referred to the Indians.] 

NEW SETTLEMENTS. 

" That they make new settlements on such purchases by 
granting lauds in the king's name, reserving a quit-rent to the 
Crown, for the use of the general treasury. 

LAWS TO GOVERN THEM. 

" That they make laws for regulating and governing such new 
settlements, till the Crown shall think fit to form thereunto par- 
ticular governments. 

RAISE SOLDIERS AND EQUIP VESSELS. 

" That they raise and pay soldiers, build forts for the defense 
of any of the colonies, and equip vessels of force to guard the 
coasts, and protect the trade on the ocean, lakes, or great rivers ; 
but they shall not impress men in any colony, without the con- 
sent of the Legislature. 

POWEP^ TO MAKE LAWS, LEVY DUTIES, ETC. 

" That for these purposes, they have power to make laws, and 



rOO THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

lay and levy such general duties, imposts, taxes, as to them shall 
appear most equal and just (considering the abihty and other 
circumstances of the inhabitants in the several colonies), and such 
as may be collected with the least inconvenience to the people ; 
rather discouraging luxury, than loading industry with unneces- 
sary burdens, 

GENERAL TREASURER, AND PARTICULAR TREASURER. 

" That they may appoint a general treasurer, and particular 
treasurer in each government, when necessary : and from time 
to time may order the sums in the treasury of each government 
into the general treasury, or draw on them for special payments, 
as they find most convenient. 

MONEY, HOW TO ISSUE. 

" Yet no money to issue but by joint orders of the President- 
general and Grand Council, except where sums have been ap- 
propriated to particular purposes, and the President-general has 
been previously empowered by an act to draw for such sums. 

ACCOUNTS. 

" That the general accounts shall be yearly settled, and re- 
ported to the several Assemblies. 

QUORUM. 

" That a quorum of the General Council, empowered to act with 
the President-general, do consist of twenty-five members, among 
whom there shall be one or more from the majority of the colonies. 

LAWS TO BE TRANSMITTED. 

" That the laws made by them for the purposes aforesaid, shall 
not be repugnant, but, as near as may be, agreeable to the laws 
of England, and shall be transmitted to the king in Council for 
approbation, as soon as may be, after their passing, and if not 
disapproved within three years after presentation, to remain in 
force. 

DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT-GENERAL. 

" That in case of the death of the President-general, the 
Speaker of the Grand Council for the time being shall succeed, 
and be vested with the same powers and authorities, to continue 
till the king's pleasure be known. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 257 

OFFICERS, HOW TO APPOINT. 

" That all military commission-officers, whether for land or 
sea service, to act under this general constitution, shall he nomi- 
nated by the President-general ; but the approbation of the 
General Council to be obtained before they get their commissions. 
And all civil officers to be nominated by the General Council, 
and to receive the President-general's approbation, before they 
officiate. 

VACANCIES, HOW SUPPLIED. 

" But in case of vacancy by death, or removal of any officer, 
civil or military, under the constitution, the governor of the prov- 
ince, in which such vacancy happens, may appoint till the pleas- 
ure of the President-general and Grand Council can be known. 

EACH COLONY MAY DEFEND ITSELF IN EMERGENCY. 

" That the particular military, as well as civil establishments 
in each colony, remain in their present state, the general consti- 
tution notwithstanding, and that on sudden emergencies any 
colony may defend itself, and lay the accounts of expenses, thence 
arising, before the President-general, and Grand Council, who 
may allow and order payment of the same, as far as they judge 
such accounts reasonable," 

The commissioners on their return reported, that a doubt arose 
in the convention as to limiting the union, at least into two 
districts, from the great extent of territory included within it ; 
but the probability that the designs of the enemy would require 
the united strength and counsels of the whole British continent, 
and that the affairs of the Indians would demand the direction of 
one undivided power, overruled an idea which, if executed, must 
have much enfeebled, if not finally ruined, the strength of the 
whole. The British Cabinet contemplated the plan of union, 
as calculated too strongly to demonstrate the ability of the colo- 
nies to defend themselves, while the control of the Crown over 
the administration was too feeble to insure its eventual superiority. 
Entertaining these viev.'s, they rejected the plan, for want of suffi- 
cient powers in the House ; while the provincial governments, 
fearing that the royal prerogative would have too prevailing an 
influence, united in the same decision from opposite principles. 



258 THIS ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

The maturing and adopting of this important scheme in North 
America, was reserved for her separate and independent author- 
ity, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight. 
Repeated renewals of their military conventions, accustomed 
men's minds to the idea of centralization ; and, when the final 
struggle with the parent country commenced, the machinery to 
be made use of for combination, was so familiar to the Provin- 
cials, that they had but to follow the example of their fore- 
fathers. 

Notwithstanding the very large subsidies granted to the colo- 
nies by Parliament, under the appellation of reimbursements for 
the payment and subsistence of their levies, and the advantages 
they derived from such enormous expenditure, they never let an 
opportunity pass to make their compliance with requisitions, the 
means of extorting from the governors concessions to some acts 
of usurpation. An attempt of this kind was made by Massa- 
chusetts upon Lord Loudon, the commander-in-chief, by refusing 
to quarter and billet the troops according to the terms of an act 
of Parliament, alleging that its provisions did not extend to 
America. He was, however, in a different position from a de- 
pendent and powerless governor. He had an army to enforce 
his authority, and therefore wrote to the General Court, that 
having used gentleness and patience, and confuted their argu- 
ments without effect, their want of complying would place him 
under the necessity of taking measures to prevent the whole con- 
tinent from being thrown into confusion. As nothing was want- 
ing to set things right, but the Justices doing their duty (for no 
act of the Assembly was necessary for it), he had ordered the 
messenger to remain only forty-eight hours in Boston ; and if on 
his return he found things not settled, he would instantly order 
into the town the three battalions from New York, Long Island, 
and Connecticut ; and, if more were wanting, he had two in the 
Jerseys at hand, besides those in Pennsylvania. As public busi- 
ness obliged him to take another route, he added, he had no more 
time left to settle this material affair, and must take the neces- 
sary steps before his departure, in case they were not done by 
themselves. This produced the desired effect ; and a law was 
passed, as they said, " not to enforce an act of Parliament, but to 
supply measures in a case that did not reach them ;" "a pro- 
ceeding" they observed, in an address to the governor, " which 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 259 

could never be disapproved of by the Imperial Legislature, their 
dependence upon ivliich they had never thaught of lessening ;'' 
and concluded with this remarkable assertion : " that there was 
not a member of the General Court, nor did they know of an 
inhabitant within their jurisdiction, who ever questioned this 
authority." 

Persons holding office not entirely under the control of the 
General Court, w^ere not so well supported as the commander-in- 
chief of a large army ; and if the Assembly had been humiliated 
itself, it was now determined to retaliate on others. Their first 
attack was upon the judges, whose salaries, as some indemnifica- 
tion for their own defeat, they reduced. This was followed up 
by a systematic course of misrepresentation and abuse, conduct 
which, it has ever been observed, precedes revolutions. The 
object of this persecution was rather to increase the odium attach- 
ing to the imperial laws, which they had to administer, than to 
gratify personal animosity ; but the Custom House officers they 
hated, not merely as the instruments of oppression, but as men 
who took delight in their annoyance. Their duty was odious in 
itself, and a zeal to merit the approbation of the Ministry, and to 
accumulate wealth, induced them to exercise a rigor in enforc- 
ing the commercial laws which added much to the unpopularity 
connected with their business. The antipathy soon became per- 
sonal, and the execution of the laws appeared like the triumph 
of private revenge. A committee reported that a sum of £475 
9s. \\d. a portion of forfeitures awarded by law to the province, 
was unjustly detained, and the House desired the treasurer to sue 
the collector of the port for its recovery. To this the governor 
refused his consent, on the ground that it was the duty of the 
treasurer merely to receive the king's money, and that of the 
attorney-general to sue for and recover it. At this distance of 
time, it would be tedious to recapitulate the arguments for and 
against the course attempted to be pursued by the House ; it is 
merely necessary to state that, as usual, the delegates succeeded. 
They extorted a reluctant consent, given under protest, in which 
the governor expressed a hope that they would not require of him 
such another proof of his great desire for preserving a good under- 
standing with them. After an expensive course of litigation, 
the judgment of the Supreme Court was given against the treas- 
urer, which still further increased the popular dislike to the Board. 



260 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

About the same time, and from the same principles and feel- 
ings, arose another important dispute. One of the Custom House 
officers petitioned the Supreme Court of Judicature, stating that 
they could not fully exercise their offices in such a manner as his 
Majesty's service, and the laws in such case required, and pray- 
ing the court would grant writs of assistance to aid them in the 
execution of their duty, according to the usage of the Court of 
Exchequer in Great Britain. Mr. Gridley, as King's Attorney, 
maintained the legality of this writ, as well by the practice of 
the Exchequer, as by that of the Supreme Court of the province. 
The practice in England, he asserted, was supported by statutes 
12th and 13th Charles II., and by 6th Anne, which continues 
all processes, and writs of assistance among the rest. The au- 
thority of the Supreme Court to grant this writ was founded upon 
the statute of 7th and 8th WiUiam III., which enacted, that all 
the officers for collecting and managing his Majesty's revenues, 
and inspecting the plantation trade in any of the provinces, should 
have the same powers, &c. as are provided for the officers of the 
revenue in England ; as also to enter houses and warehouses to 
search for, and seize any such goods, and that the like assistance 
should be given to the said officers as is the custom in England. 

Mr. Otis appeared for the inhabitants of Boston, who had pre- 
sented a counter petition. As his speech discloses several curious 
facts, and presents a striking picture of the partisan zeal of the 
lawyers of that day, as well as a good specimen of the ability 
and eloquence of the Massachusetts bar, I insert copious ex- 
tracts from what is reported in Minot : 

" May it please Your Honors, 
" I was desired by one of the Court to look into the books, and 
consider the question now before them, concerning writs of assist- 
ance. I have accordingly considered it, and now appear, not 
only in obedience to your orders, but likewise in behalf of the in- 
habitants of this town, who have presented another petition, and 
out of regard to the liberties of the subject. And I take this op- 
portunity to declare, that whether under a fee or not (for in such 
a case I despise a fee), I will to my dying day oppose Avith all the 
powers and faculties God has given me. all such instruments of 
slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other, as this writ of 
assistance is. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 261 

" It appears to me the worst instrument of arbitrary power, 
the most destructive of English Hberty, and the fundamental 
principles of law, that ever was found in an English law book. 
I must, therefore, beg your honors' patience and attention to the 
whole range of an argument that may perhaps appear uncommon 
in many things, as well to points of learning, that are more re- 
mote and unusual, that the whole tendency of my design may 
the more easily be perceived, the conclusion better descried, and 
the force of them be better felt. I shall not think much of my 
pains in this cause, as I engaged in it from principle. I was 
solicited to argue this cause as advocate-general ; and because I 
would not, I have been charged with desertion from my office. 
To this charge I can give a very sufficient answer. I renounce 
that office, and I argue this cause, from the same principle ; and 
I argue it with the greater pleasure, because it is in favor of 
British liberty, at a time when we hear the greatest monarch 
upon earth declaring from his throne, that he glories in the name 
of Briton, and that the privileges of his people are dearer to him 
than the most valuable prerogative of his crown ; and as it is in 
opposition to a kind of power, the exercise of which, in former 
periods of English history, cost one king of England his head, and 
another his throne. 

" I have taken more pains in this cause than I ever will take 
again, although my engaging in this and another popular cause, 
has raised much excitement. But T think I can sincerely declare, 
that T cheerfully submit myself to every odious name for con- 
science sake, and from my soul I despise all those whose guilt, 
malice, or folly, has made them my foes. Let the consequences 
be what they will, I am determined to proceed. The only prin- 
ciples of public conduct, that are worthy of a gentleman, or a 
man, are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even 
life, to the sacred calls of his country. These manly sentiments 
in private life make the good citizen, in public life the patriot 
and the hero. I do not say that when brought to the test, I 
shall be invincible. I pray God, I may never be brought to the 
melancholy trial ; but if ever I should, it wdll then be known 
how far I can reduce to practice principles which I know to be 
founded in truth. In the mean time, I will proceed to the sub- 
ject of this writ. 

" In the first place the writ is universal, being directed ' to all 



2G2 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

and singular, the justices, sherifis, constables, and all other officers 
and subjects,' so that, in short, it is directed to every subject in 
the king's dominions. Every one with this writ may be a tyrant, 
if this commission be legal ; a tyrant in a legal manner also may 
control, imprison, or murder any one within the realm. In the 
next place it is perpetual, there is no return. A man is account- 
able to no person for his doings. Every man may reign secure in his 
petty tyranny, and spread terror and desolation around him, until 
the trump of the arch-angel shall excite different emotions in his 
soul. In the third place, a person with this writ, in the day 
time, may enter all houses, shops, &c., at will, and command all 
to assist him. Fourthly, by this writ, not only deputies, &c., but 
even their menial servants are allowed to lord it over us. What 
is this but to have the curse of Canaan with a witness on us, to 
be the servant of servants, the most despicable of God's creatures ? 

" Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty is 
the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle ; and 
while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle. 
This writ, if it should be declared legal, would entirely annihilate 
this privilege. Custom House officers may enter our houses when 
they please. We are commanded to permit their entry. Their 
menial servants may enter, may break locks, bars, and every 
thing in their way, and whether they break through malice or 
revenge, no man, no court can inquire. Bare suspicion without 
oath is sufficient. 

" This wanton exercise of this power is not a chemical sugges- 
tion of a heated brain. I will mention some facts. Mr. Pew 
had one of these writs, and when Mr. Ware succeeded him, he 
endorsed this writ over to Mr. Ware, so that these writs are 
negotiable from one officer to another, and so your honors have 
no opportunity of judging the persons to whom this vast power is 
delegated. Another instance is this ; Mr. Justice Wally had 
called this same Mr. Ware before him by a constable, to answer 
for a breach of Sabbath-day acts, or that of profane swearing. 
As soon as he had finished, Mr. Ware asked him if he had done. 
He replied, yes. Well, then, said Mr. Ware, I will show you a 
little of my power. I command you to permit me to search your 
house for uncustomed goods, and went on to search his house from 
garret to cellar, and then served the constable in the same man- 
ner. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 263 

"Bat to show another absurdity in this writ, if it should be 
estabhshed, I insist upon it, every person, by the 14th Charles 
II., has this power as well as Custom House officers. The words 
are : * It shall be lawful for any person or persons authorized,' 
Soc. What a scene does this open I Every man, prompted by 
revenge, ill-humor, or wantonness to inspect the inside of his 
neighbor's house, may get a writ of assistance. Others will ask 
it from self-defense, one arbitrary exertion will provoke another, 
until society be involved in tumult and blood." 

Notwithstandmg these and many more arguments were enforced, 
with a zeal peculiar to the spirit of the occasion, and the manners 
of the pleaders, the writ of assistance was granted. In the midst 
of these disputes occurred the peace of 1763, which, though it 
})voduced a temporary calm, ultimately transferred hostilities from 
the confines to the very heart of the colonies 



CHAPTER IV. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF EVENTS FROM 1763 TO THE REPEAL OF 
THE STAMP ACT IN 17G6. 

Reasoning of the English and the Colonists on the Snbjectof Raising a Revenue 
in America— Attacks on the English Clergy in Massachusetts and Virginia — 
Patrick Henry's Conduct — Navy Officers ordered to enforce the Lavi^s of Trade 
Mr. Grenville's Plan of Taxation — Intercolonial Trade stopped — Sugar Act 
passed — Clause authorizing Suits in Admiralty Courts — Theories of different 
Parties as to Power of Parliament to tax Colonies — Publications in Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, Maryland, and other Colonies agaii'.st Tax- 
ation Representation in Parliament abandoned — Conciliatory Act ineffectual 

Arguments against the Measure— Speeches of Col. Bane and Patrick Henry 

News of Stamp Act having passed is received — Effect of it at Boston and 

elsewhere— Riots in Boston, New York, and other Places — Non-importation 
Association — General Court recommends a Congress — Declaration of Rights 
—Congress assembles at New York, and appoints a Speaker — Change in 
the Eni^lish Ministry — Repeal of the Stamp Act — Singular Form of Act of In- 
demnity passed by General Court. 

The common object the English and the Provincials had in 
view, which had hitherto cemented their union, having been ob- 
tained by the overthrow of the French power in America, they 
cordially congratulated each other on their success. Flushed 
M^ith victory, both claimed a full share of the merit of the tri- 
umph, and of the sacrifice of life and treasure at which it was 
obtained ; but their attention was soon withdrawn from their 
conquests to their own relative position and rights. Great Britain 
lamented over the enormous expense of the war, and argued that, 
having relieved the colonies of a formidable and relentless ioe, 
and enlarged their boundaries, it was but reasonable they should 
contribute to the reduction of the national debt, so greatly in- 
creased in their defense, as well as defray, for the future, the cost 
of their own government. 

To this it was answered, You have not extended our territory, 
but added to your own empire. Had it not been for your am- 
bitious wars in which, as dependencies, we have been unhappily 
involved, we should have preserved a friendly relation with our 
Gallic neighbors, and sustained a most advantageous and profit- 
able trade with them. We were powerful enough to resist 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 265 

aggression, and punish insult, and could have defended ourselves, 
as heretofore, without your assistance. If your expenses have 
been large, ours have been altogether beyond our means, and 
evince a generous participation in your undertakings, that justly 
entitles us both to gratitude and remuneration. Thirty thousand 
colonial soldiers have perished in the struggle, by disease, or the 
sword. We have expended more than sixteen millions of dollars, 
only five millions of which have been reimbursed by Parliament. 
Massachusetts alone has kept annually in the field from four to 
seven thousand men, besides furnishing garrisons, and supplying 
recruits to the regular army, and expended two millions and a 
half of dollars over and above the advances from the miUtary 
chest. The small colony of Connecticut has, during the same 
period, raised two millions of dollars, while the outstanding debt 
alone of New York amounts to nearly a million. If the southern 
plantations have been less profuse, they have far exceeded all 
former experience, for Virginia, at the close of the war, had an 
outstanding debt of two hundred thousand pounds. 

Beyond this the new argument became personal and bitter, 
for men more easily forgive an injury than an insult. The ir- 
regular levies of New England troops, though hardy, brave, and 
admirably suited for American warfare, made a sorry and gro- 
tesque appearance on parade ; and the primitive manners, nasal 
pronunciation, and variegated and antique clothing of both offi- 
cers and men, subjected them to the ill-concealed ridicule, or open 
insolence of the British army. On their part they knew and felt, 
that if they were inferior in drill and equipments to the regulars, 
they infinitely excelled them in the field, and pointed with great 
complacency to the numerous instances in which they covered 
their retreat, extricated them from ambush, and opened the way 
for their success. Much of the same arrogant assumption is still 
unhappily exhibited by the inhabitants of the Old World, on 
visiting the New, and with a similar unpleasant result. 

The war had thus, as has been before observed, filled the prov- 
inces with soldiers and officers, all accustomed to active service, 
and an efficient, resolute, and experienced militia, who formed a 
formidable body of men, trained to regard a resort to arms as a 
natural and efTectual means of deciding disputes. What the 
scheme of the English Ministry was for governing America, or 
raising a revenue from it, no one yet knew ; but every body was 

M 



266 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

aware that some such intention, whether matured or not, was 
seriously entertained. Men's minds were filled with doubts and 
fears, and the Puritans, as of old, endeavored to increase the gen- 
eral discontent, by asserting that it was the intention of Govern- 
ment to subject them all to the hierarchy. In Massachusetts it 
had the effect (probably the only one designed, for there was no 
endowment to attack or confiscate) of still more alienating parties, 
and keeping alive the animosity, unhappily but too deeply rooted, 
of the people against England, her institutions, and her author- 
ity. In Virginia the case was difierent, for there was a stipend 
established by law, and the Dissenters and Democrats used all 
their influence to deprive the clergy, who were loyalists, of their 
means of support. The " parsons' due," as it was called, was, 
owing to the scarcity of gold and silver, made payable in tobacco, 
and came therefore within the class of claims popularly called, 
" Tobacco debts." A short crop having enhanced the value of 
that staple, a temporary act was passed, authorizing the payment 
of all such claims, at two-pence per pound weight. Subsequently, 
under pretense of an expected failure, a temporary law, com- 
monly called the " Tender Act," was revived, whereby the incomes 
of the clergy were very materially reduced. This law, by the 
assistance of Sherlock, Bishop of London, was disallowed by the 
king, and suits were accordingly brought to recover the difference 
between the real value of the article and the fictitious standard. 
It was en the trial of one of these causes that Patrick Henry, 
afterward so celebrated, was first brought into notice. Knowing 
that the law and the court wera both opposed to such a flagitious 
defense, he trusted to his powers of declaniation, which were of 
no ordinary kind, and v.ith such topics as religious liberty, the 
sacred rights of freemen, the odious royal veto, and the bless- 
ing of self-government on the one hand, and an excited audience 
and interested jurors on the other, he succeeded, by obtaining a 
verdict, in denuding the law of its power, and the clergy of their 
subsistence. The Assembly even went so far as to vote moneys 
to defend any further actions that the parsons might bring, who 
were thus compelled, notwithstanding their clear legal right, to 
submit to the unjust spoliation. 

Distrust and disaffection were generally diffused throughout the 
country ; and the rashness and indecision, open aggression, and 
ill-timed conciliation of the Enghsh Ministry, soon supplied abund- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 267 

ant materials for agitation. The agent of Massachusetts had 
informed the General Court that, at the commencement of the 
late hostilities, the Board of Trade had proposed a scheme of 
transatlantic taxation. In the course of the war, Pitt had inti- 
mated to more than one colonial governor, that when it was over, 
the authority of Parliament would be invoked, to extort from 
America the means of its own support. Peace was no sooner 
proclaimed than his successor hastened to mature a somewhat 
similar plan. Less difficulty was felt in asserting the right, than 
in devising means for putting it into execution. Still it was a 
question how it could be efiected, without irretrievably alienating 
the natives. Duties on trade afforded the easiest, because a well- 
known and accustomed mode ; while the objections to direct and 
internal taxation appeared almost insuperable. Even the first 
mode, it was obvious, would be attended with great difficulty in 
the collection. There W'ould be frequent evasions or infractions 
of the law ; and nothing short of a military force would insure 
success ; but a standing army of ten thousand men, it was thought, 
would overawe all opposition. 

No time, therefore, was lost in exacting a rigid compliance 
with the regulations of trade. Orders were issued to the officers 
of the navy in America, vigilantly to enforce the several acts of 
Parliament on that subject. Nothing could be more vexatious 
than the nianner in which these instructions were executed, and 
nothing more impolitic than the measure itself; for it degraded 
the officers in their own eyes, by transforming them into tide- 
waiters and Custom House officials, and at the same time ren- 
dered them excessively obnoxious to the Provincials. They were 
not only uninformed of the cases in which ships were liable to 
penalties, but of those in wdiich they were exempt from deten- 
tion, and therefore obstructed the trade, without increasing the 
revenue. The evil was aggravated by the difficulty of redress. 
The Board in England could alone give relief, and the expense 
and delay of restitution, or satisfaction, often exceeded the original 
amount of the loss. 

At that time a very lucrative trade was carried on between the 
American provinces and the colonies of Spain, and from New 
England to the French West India Islands. In the former, the 
merchant exchanged either British or their own manufactures for 
gold and silver, medical drugs, dye stuffs, and live stock. In the 



268 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

latter they bartered their surplus goods and native productions for 
the rum, sugar, molasses, and money of the planters, both which 
branches of commerce were extremely profitable. This inter- 
course, though opposed to the letter of the acts of trade, had been 
heretofore openly connived at by the Custom House officials, but 
was now totally put an end to by the naval commanders, who, 
urged on by the prospect of prize-money, seized indiscriminately 
the ships engaged in it, whether belonging to subjects or foreigners. 
Immediately afterward, and while the public mind was agitated 
by these vexatious proceedings, the attempt to raise a revenue, 
was openly announced and acted upon, imposts being resorted to 
in the first instance. In the year 1764, Mr. Grenville brought 
before Parliament his plan for raising a transatlantic revenue. 
He stated that, during the last four years sixty-three millions had 
been added to the national debt, a great part of which had been 
incurred for the necessary expenses ol' the war in America ; that 
such was the state of the public finances, that it was necessary 
every part of the empire should contribute, according to its means, 
to lighten the public burden ; that the charge of the Government 
in the plantations was £350,000 per annum, and that it was 
but reasonable that those who derived all the benefit of the 
expenditure, should submit to be taxed for its repayment. He 
then submitted several resolutions, to the following efiect : That 
duties be laid on various enumerated foreign articles, imported 
from any place (excepting in some cases from Great Britain) into 
the British colonies and plantations in America ; and a duty 
upon other articles, the produce of the colonies, exported to any 
other place than Great Britain ; that a duty of three-pence 
sterling per gallon be laid on molasses and syrups, and an addi- 
tional duty upon white sugars of the growth of any foreign 
American plantation, imported into the British colonies ; that the 
produce of the duties so to be laid, to be paid into the Exchequer, 
and there reserved, to be from time to time disposed of by Par- 
liament, toward defraying the necessary expenses of defending, 
protecting, and securing the British colonies and plantations in 
America ; and that toward further defraying the said expenses, it 
might be proper to charge certain stamp duties in the colonies. 
A bill was accordingly brought in and enacted for imposing the 
duties as resolved upon, except as to stamps, which was postponed 
to the next year, as the Massachusetts agent reported " in com- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 269 

plaisance to the colonies, to give them an opportunity to pass 
it themselves, or some other equivalent," Mr. Grenville being 
willing, as he expressed himself, " to consult the ease, the quiet, 
and good-will of the colonies." In all this legislation the remon- 
strance of America was avoided by a rule of the House of 
Commons not to receive any petition against a money bill. This 
practice was founded on the principle of the people who were to 
pay the tax being present by their delegates in Parliament, and 
evidently proved the absurdity of the case before them, wherein 
they were the only party neither actually nor virtually represented. 

This act, commonly called the molasses or sugar act, imposed 
a duty of three-pence instead of sixpence, which had previously 
existed, but had never been collected; and instead, therefore, of 
being a boon and a reduction of a tax, as represented by Gren- 
ville, virtually created a new and most oppressing burden. Its 
rigid enforcement by the navy officers created the utmost con- 
sternation among the people, who loudly and indignantly com- 
plained, that it had been passed without notice, wdiereby they 
were deprived of all opportunity of stating their objections to it. 

The magnitude of the trade, thus obstructed or ruined, is ex- 
pounded at length in the instructions given by Massachusetts to her 
agent in London. He was desired to urge on the Government 
that the business of the fishery, which would be broken up by the 
act, was estimated in Massachusetts alone at one hundred and 
sixty-four thousand pounds, and the vessels employed in it, which 
would be nearly useless, at one hundred thousand pounds ; the 
provisions consumed in it, the casks for packing fish, and other 
articles, at twenty-two thousand seven hundred and upward ; to 
all which there was to be added the loss of the advantage of 
sending lumber, horses, provisions, and other commodities to the 
foreign plantations as cargoes, the vessels employed to carry fish 
to Spain and Portugal, the dismissing of five thousand seamen 
from their employment, the effects of the annihilation of the 
fishery upon the trade of the province and of the mother-country 
in general, and its accumulative evils by increasing the rival 
fisheries of France. This was forcibly stated, as it represented 
the means of remittances to England for goods imported into the 
province, which had been made in specie to the amount of one 
hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, besides ninety thou- 
sand in the treasurer's bills for the reimbursement money within 



270 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

the last eighteen months. The sources, they said, for obtain- 
ing this money were through foreign countries, by the means 
of the fishery, and would be cut off with the trade to their 
plantations. 

The Minister, foreseeing the unpopularity of the act, inserted 
a clause to secure its execution, which proved to be as objection- 
able, respecting the rights of Americans, as its general principles. 
Penalties for the breach of this act, or any other relating to the 
trade and revenues of the British colonies, incurred in America, 
were made recoverable in any Court of Record or in any Court 
of Admiralty in the colony where the offense should be committed, 
or in any Court of Vice- Admiralty, which might be appointed 
over all America, at the election of the informer or prosecutor. 
Thus a trial by jury might be taken away, and a defendant might 
be forced from one end of the continent to another to support his 
claim in a Court of Vice-Admiralty, at an expense, perhaps, 
beyond the value of the property in question. And, after all, the 
act provided that he should recover neither costs nor damages, if 
the judge should certify that there was probable cause of seizure. 

In the letter of instructions of the General Court to their agent, 
before referred to, founded on several letters from him, in which 
he had misconstrued their silence upon the business of the tax on 
molasses, and even the quartering of ten thousand troops in the 
colonies, into an assent to those measures, they observed that the 
sudden passing of the Sugar Act, and continuing a heavy duty on 
that branch of their commerce, was far from proving that any 
solid foundation existed for a hope which he had expressed, lhat 
a general disposition would be found to serve the colonies, and not 
to distress them ; that no agent of the province had power to 
make concessions in any case without distinct orders ; and that 
the silence of the province should have been imputed to any cause, 
even to despair, rather than to have been construed into a tacit 
cession of their rights, or an acknowledgment of a power in the 
Parliament of Great Britain to impose duties and taxes upon a 
people who are not represented in the House of Commons ; that 
they were still more surprised at his letter respecting the quarter- 
ing of an army on the colonies. " We conceive," said they, " no- 
thing could restrain your liberty of opposing so burdensome a 
scheme. What merit could there be in a submission to so un- 
constitutional a measure ? It is time enough to make a virtue 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 271 

of necessity when we are compelled to submit to so unreasonable 
an establishment. We are extremely obliged to Mr. Grenville 
for his kindest expressions of regard to the colonies ; but we can 
not conceive it any favor that he will not think of any thing from 
America for the relief of Great Britain. Nor can we conceive it 
to be exactly agreeable to equity and justice that America should 
be at the whole charge of its government and defense. If all the 
colonists are to be taxed at pleasure, without any representative 
in Parliament, what M'ill there be to distinguish them in point 
of liberty, from the subjects of the most absolute prince 1 For 
besides maintaining internal provincial civil government among 
themselves, they must pay toward the support of the civil and 
miiitaiy governments in Great Britain. Now it is conceived that 
no people on earth are doubly taxed for the support of govern- 
ment." As to the deferring of the Stamp Act, they observed 
that, " the first offer of suspending it in the m»anner, and upon the 
conditions mentioned, amounted to no more than this, that if the 
colonies would not tax themselves as they might be directed, the 
Parliament would compel obedience." 

The fixing the duty on molasses at three-pence per gallon, 
seemed to them repugnant to the assurance given by the Ministry, 
that the colonies were not to be taxed for the support of the gov- 
ernment at home ; for if America were to be assessed for her own 
more immediate M'ants and protection only, and two-pence might 
yield enough for that, to what purpose would it be to lay three- 
pence ? and the duty, in all good policy, should have been low 
at first, if it was right to lay any, and it might have been subse- 
quently increased by degrees. But the business, if it would sus- 
tain any impost, would admit only of a light duty. They stated 
that Ireland was a conquered country, which was not the case 
with the northern colonies, except Canada ; yet no duties had 
been levied on it by the British Parliament. No internal nor 
external taxes had been assessed upon the people than by their 
own legislature, although many prohibitions have been made. 
That laying these restraints on dominions not represented in Par- 
liament, should be exercised with great moderation ; but that 
this had better be exercised with the utmost rigor, than the pow- 
er of taxing, for this last was the grand barrier of British liberty; 
which if once broken down, all was lost ; that, in a word, a peo- 
ple might be free and tolerably happy without a particular branch 



272 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

of trade, but without the privilege of assessing their own taxes, 
they could be neither. 

The invitation given to the other colonies to associate in their 
opposition to the ministerial system of revenue, constituted an im- 
portant leading measure in the revolution of the country, and has 
been denominated a declaration of rights, and a proclamation of 
political war between the patriots and the friends of the British 
Government in Massachusetts. As the controversy increased, 
the ground of the disputants became narrowed. Hitherto there 
had been three different theories held on the subject of the power 
of Parliament. The Ministry had recently asserted its right to 
bind America in all cases whatever. The opposition parties in 
the colonies conceded to it, in general terms, a superintending 
power to enact laws and regulations for the public good, in mat- 
ters external, but denied its right to levy taxes. The people 
held it to be their essential right, as Englishmen, not to be sub- 
ject to any tax, but what they had a voice in laying, in person 
or by their representatives ; maintaining that this principle had 
been admitted in practice, by the colonies being allowed civil 
governments of their own, who had always voted supplies to the 
king greater than their proportion of the national expenditure, 
and were supported by their constituents ; and affirmed that their 
representatives in these governments were the only proper judges 
of their ability to grant money, a British House of Commons 
being at too great a distance to be well informed, and too much 
interested in laying heavy burdens upon the colonies, in order to 
lighten their own. 

The loyalists, for the sake of British connection, and to pre- 
serve the peace of the country, Avere willing to submit to the 
power thus assumed by Parliament, but differed from the Gov- 
ernment as to the mode of raising the revenue. The Ministry 
were desirous of receiving the proceeds through the exchequer, 
the royal party for raising and appropriating them in the coun- 
try, while some were for accommodating matters by proposing to 
leave external taxes to Government, and retaining all internal 
ones at home. As the temper of the opposition became irritated, 
their indisposition to make any concessions whatever became 
more and more apparent. A strong and energetic pamphlet, re- 
cently published by Mr. Otis, of Boston, entitled, " The rights of 
the British colonies asserted," was read and approved of by the 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 273 

Assembly of Massachusetts. In this work the author scouted 
the distinction hitherto generally adnnitted between external and 
internal taxes ; meaning in the one case impositions on trade, and 
in the other, on land or personal property. If trade might be 
taxed, he said, without the consent of the colonists, so might real 
estate ; both were pronounced absolutely irreconcilable with the 
rights of Provincials as British subjects, and as men. 

Similar tracts, more or less strong, appeared at the same time 
in Rhode Island, Maryland, and Virginia. The House followed 
up its opposition by a petition to Parliament. The resistance of 
Massachusetts to the new Sugar Act was echoed from Pennsyl- 
vania and Connecticut ; while the address from the House of 
Representatives of New York was couched in such strong lan- 
guage, that no member of Parliament could be found to present 
it. Rhode Island adopted the same energetic course. In Vir- 
ginia, the representatives agreed upon a petition to the king, a 
memorial to the House of Lords, and a remonstrance to the Ministry. 

One of the objections to the right of Parliament to lay taxes 
on the people in the provinces, and legislate for them in other re- 
spects, was, that they were not represented in that body. It was 
a plan of some individuals, to have members from the colonies 
to sit in the British House of Commons. The Ministry were 
inclined to favor the measure ; but it was soon after perceived 
that the representatives would be so few in number, that it 
would be no benefit, and it was never formally discussed in 
Parliament ; but after this period it was universally repudiated 
by the Provincials themselves. 

To counteract the probable unpopularity of the Sugar Act, 
several others were passed by the Imperial Government about 
the same time, to promote their trade, and increase the inter- 
course of the colonies with the mother country, such as " a bill 
for granting a bounty for the importation of hemp from America 
into Great Britain," "a bill to encourage the whale fishery," and 
another for granting leave for a certain time to export rice, from 
South Carolina and Georgia to other parts of America, on paying 
British duties. But unfortunately the disastrous effect of the re- 
cent regulations for a rigid enforcement of the laws of trade, by 
stopping the supply of money to the plantations, was certain and 
immediate, while the beneficial consequences of the conciliatory 
acts, if any, could only be remote. They had no efiect whatever, 



274 THE ENCLISH IN AMERICA. 

therefore, in withdrawing men's minds from the present embar- 
rassments, and the great principle involved in the dispute. 

Nothing, however, could prevail on the Ministry to relinquish 
the idea of internal taxes, and the Stamp Act, though not with- 
out considerable opposition in the Commons, passed by a majority 
of five to one. The London merchants concerned in the Ameri- 
can trade, petitioned against it ; but a standing rule, not to receive 
memorials against a money bill, excluded it as well as those of 
the local legislatures. Argument and invective were both resort- 
ed to ineilectually. Of the former, the principles were that it 
was absurd that colonists should be still thought to owe any sub- 
mission to the Parliament, which had not authority enough to 
shield them against the violence of the executive ; and more ab- 
surd still, that the inhabitants of Great Britain should pretend to 
exercise over tlie^n rights, which that very people affirmed they 
might justly oppose, if claimed over themselves by others. That 
it was their birthright, even as the descendants of Englishmen, 
not to be taxed by any but their own representatives ; that the 
people of Ireland were much more virtually represented in the 
Parliament of Great Britain than it was ever pretended the Pro- 
vincials could be, in consequence of the great proportion of En- 
glishmen possessed of estates and places of trust there, and the 
number of Irish noblemen and gentlemen in both Houses of the 
Legislature ; yet that, notwithstanding, England never claimed 
any right to tax the people on the ground of their being thus 
virtually represented among them. That, granting the British 
Parliament's right to make laws for the colonies, and even to tax 
them without their concurrence, there lay many objections against 
the stamps, inasmuch as those duties were laid gradually on the 
people of Great Britain, while they were to be saddled all at 
once with all their increased weight, on those of the colonies ;* 
that if those duties were thought so grievous in England, on ac- 
count of the great variety of occasions in which they were paya- 
ble, they must be to the last degree oppressive in the colonies, 
where the people in general could not be supposed so conversant 
in matters of this kind. Numbers did not understand even the 
language of these intricate laws, so much out of the course of 
what common sense alone might suggest to them as their duty, 
and common honesty engage them to practice. 
* Annual Register. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 275 

Of the latter kind, was the celebrated speech of Colonel Barre. 
In reply to Townsend, one of the ministers who supported it, and 
called the colonists " children planted by our care, nourished by 
our indulgence, and protected by our arms," he indignantly an- 
swered, " They planted by your care ? No, your oppressions 
planted them in America. They nourished by your indulgence ? 
They grew up by your neglect of them. They protected by your 
arms 1 Those sons of liberty have nobly took up arms in your 
defense, I claim to know more of America than most of you, 
having been conversant with that country. The people, I be- 
lieve, are as truly loyal subjects as the king has, but they are a 
people jealous of their liberties, and will vindicate them, should, 
they ever be violated. But the subject is too delicate, I will say 
no more." 

News reached Virginia of the passing of the bill, while the 
House was in session. Patrick Henry, who had previously ob- 
tained notoriety by his attack on the " parsons' dues," brought 
forward a series of resolutions, claiming for the inhabitants of 
Virginia all the rights of born British subjects ; denying any 
authority, except in the Provincial Assembly, to impose taxes upon 
them ; and denouncing the attempt to vest the authority else- 
where, as inconsistent with the ancient constitution, and subver- 
sive of British as well as of American liberty. Upon the intro- 
duction of these resolutions, a hot debate took place. " Csesar 
had his Brutus," said Henry, " Charles I. his Cromwell, and 

George III. " " Treason ! treason I" shouted the Speaker, 

and the cry was re-echoed from the House. " George III.," 
said Henry, firmly, " may profit by their examples. If that be 
treason, make the most of it." 

If the tax on sugar and molasses, to raise a revenue, was de- 
nounced as inconsistent with charter rights, and the principles 
of British liberty, the Stamp Act, by which all printed or written 
public legal papers were liable to a duty, met with still stronger 
opposition. It was considered as an internal tax, for the purpose 
of raising money in the province for the use of Great Britain. 
So far, indeed, as the former act was not a mere regulation of 
trade, but intended to draw a revenue from the province, without 
the consent of the representatives, it was opposed and reprobated. 
As to the latter, there was no disguise or deception in the case; 
the professed object was to raise money for the public treasury 



276 THEENGLISHIN AMERICA. 

of England, except it should be all spent on the officers of ths 
Crown in the province. Writs of all kinds, probate papers, 
deeds, and even diplomas for college degrees, were all subject tG 
duty. 

Although there never could have been any well-grounded hopti 
that the Stamp Act would have been quietly submitted to in the 
colonies, yet the notice so publicly given of the intention to carry 
it through Parliament, and the delay occasioned thereby, enabled 
the demagogues, the clergy, and all opposed to British domi- 
nation, to prepare the minds of the people for resistance. Thi 
news of the bill having received the royal assent, no sooner reach 
ed Massachusetts, than the people were infuriated to the highest 
degree. The ships in the harbor hoisted their colors half mast 
high, in token of the deepest mourning ; the bells rang muffled ; 
the act itself was printed with a death's head inserted in the 
place where it is usual to fix the stamps, and cried publicly about 
the streets by the name of " Folly of England, and Ruin of 
America." 

Essays soon followed, not only against the expediency, but 
even the equity of it, in several newspapers, one of which bore 
the significant title of " The Constitutional Courant, containing 
matters interesting to liberty, and no wise repugnant to loyalty, 
printed by Andrew Marvel, at the sign of the Bribe Refused, on 
Constitution Hill, North America." This paper had a still more 
significant vignette of a snake cut in pieces, with the initial let- 
ters of the names of the several colonies, from New York to 
South Carolina inclusively, affixed to each piece, and above 
them the words, " Join or Die." To these were added carica- 
tures, pasquinades, hon-moU, and such vulgar sayings fitted to 
the occasion, as by being short could be most easily circulated 
and retained ; at the same time, by being extremely expressive, 
they carried with them more weight than arguments. These 
})roceedings were followed by such others as might naturally be 
expected from them. 

By the time the act itself reached the colonies, the populace 
were every where exasperated against it to such a degree, that 
they treated it with the utmost contempt and indignation. It 
was publicly burnt by them in several places ; and at the same 
time it was voted that thanks should be given to General Con- 
way and Colonel Barre, two gentlemen whom they considered as 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 277 

the most strenuous opposers of it in the British House of Com- 
mons ; that their speeches against it, and their pictures, shouhl 
be requested, the latter to be hung up in their places of meeting, 
and the former to be inserted in the books destined to record their 
principal transactions. A great elm in Boston, at the corner of 
the present Washington and Essex streets, under which the op- 
ponents of the Stamp Act were accustomed to assemble, soon be- 
came famous as "liberty tree." Those persons, supposed to fa- 
vor the Ministry, were hung in effigy on the branches of this elm. 
A mob attacked the house of Oliver, Secretary of the Colony, 
who had been appointed stamp distributor for Massachusetts, 
broke his windows, destroyed his furniture, pulled down a small 
building, supposed to be intended for their reception, and fright- 
ened him into a resignation. Jonathan Mayhew, the minister 
of the West Church in Boston (distinguished by his recent attack 
on the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel iu Foreign Parts), 
preached a seditious sermon against the Stamp Act, taking the 
significant text, " I would they were cut off, which trouble you." 
The Monday evening after this sermon, the riots were renewed. 
The mob attacked the house of Story, Registrar of the Admiralty, 
and destroyed not only the public files and records, but his private 
papers also. They next entered and plundered the house of the 
Comptroller of the Customs ; and maddened with hquor and 
excitement, proceeded to the mansion of Hutchinson in the 
North-square. The lieutenant-governor and his family fled 
for their lives. The house was completely gutted. 

The inhabitants of Boston, at a town meeting, unanimously 
expressed their " abhorrence" of these proceedings ; and a " civic 
guard" was organized to prevent their repetition. "Yet the 
rioters, though well known, went unpunished, a sure sign," says 
Hildreth, decidedly the most able and impartial of American his- 
torians, " of the secret concurrence and good- will of the mass of 
the community. It is only in reliance on such encouragements, 
that mobs ever venture to commit deeds of violence. Those now 
perpetrated were revolutionary acts, designed to intimidate — mel- 
ancholy forerunners of civil war I" 

Massachusetts was not alone in these demonstrations. The 
unpalatable law received similar, though less flagrant treatment 
in the other colonies. On the 24th of August, a Gazette extra- 
ordinary was published at Providence, with Vox populi, vox 



27S T HE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

Dei for a motto ; effigies were exhibited, and in the evening cut 
down and burnt. Three days after, the people of Newport con- 
ducted three effigies of obnoxious persons, in a cart with halters 
about their necks, to a gallows near the Town House, where they 
were hung, and after a while cut down and burnt, amidst the 
acclamations of thousands. 

On the last day of October a body of people from the country 
approached the town of Portsmouth (New Hampshire), in the 
apprehension that the stamps would be distributed ; but, on 
being assured that there was no such intention, they quietly dis- 
persed. The next morning all the bells in Portsmouth, New- 
castle, and Greenland, were tolled, to denote the decease of 
liberty ; and in the course of the day, notice was given to her 
friends to attend the funeral. A coffin, neatly ornamented, and 
inscribed with " Liberty, aged CXLV years," was j)repared for 
the funeral procession, which began from the State House, at- 
tended with two unbraced drums.* Minute guns were fired until 
the corpse arrived at the grave, when an oration was pronounced 
in honor of the deceased. The sermon was scarcely concluded, 
when some remains of life'having been discovered, the body was 
taken up. The insciptioii on the lid of the coffin was imme- 
diately altered to " Liberty Revived ;" the bells suddenly struck 
up a cheerful sound ; and joy appeared again in every counte- 
nance. 

In Connecticut, Mr. Ingersoil, the constituted distributor of 
stamps, was exhibited and burnt in effigy in the month of August ; 
and the excitement at length became so general and alarming, 
that he resigned his office. In the same month, the spirit dis- 
covered by the citizens of New York produced a similar resigna- 
tion. The stamp papers arriving toward the end of October, 
Lieutenant-governor Golden took them into Fort George, and 
extraordinary preparations were made to secure them. On the 
1st of November, many of the inhabitants, offended at his con- 
duct, and disliking his political sentiments, having assembled in 
the evening, proceeded to the walls of the fort ; broke open his 
stables, and took out his carriage. After carrying it through the 
principal streets of the city, they marched to the common, where 
a gallows was erected, on which they suspended his effigy, with 
a stamped bill of lading in one hand, and a figure of the devil in 
* Holmes' Annual Register. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 279 

the other. When it had been hung a sufficient time to gather a 
great concourse of people, they carried it in procession with the 
gallows entire to the gate of the fort, when it was removed to 
the bowling-green, under the muzzle of the guns, M^iere a bonfire 
was made, and the whole pageantry, including the carriage, was 
consumed, amidst the acclamations of several thousand spectators. 
They next proceeded to the house of Major James, a friend of 
the Ministry, and after plundering it, consumed every article of 
furniture in a bonfire. 

At Philadelphia, on the appearance of the ships having on 
board the obnoxious papers, all the vessels in the harbor hoisted 
their colors half-mast high ; the bells were muffled, and continued 
to toll until evening ; and Mr. Hughes, the stamp-master, found 
it necessary to resign. In Maryland, Mr. Hood, the distributor 
for that colony, to avoid resignation, fled to New York, but he 
was constrained by a number of Sons of Liberty to sign a paper 
declaring his absolute and final resignation. In Virginia, the 
officer arriving at Williamsburg in the evening, was immediately 
urged to relinquish his commission, and upon complying, received 
the acclamations of the people. At night the town was illu- 
minated, the bells were ringing, and festivity expressed the uni- 
versal joy. 

Although, by the resignation of the distributors, the colonists 
weie laid under a legal inability for doing business according to 
parliamentary laws, yet they adventured to do it, and risked the 
consequences. Vessels sailed from ports, as before ; and the 
courts of justice, though suspended a while in most of the colonies, 
at length proceeded to business without stamps. As a retaliatory 
measure, a general combination was formed, for the non-consump- 
tion or importation of British manufactures. A retrenchment 
in the use of foreign articles, especially at funerals, the encourage- 
ment of their own manufactures, and the consequent reduction 
of importations from England, were the expedients first resorted 
to. This was to advance their own country, at the expense of a 
powerful interest in the parent state, which might influence the 
Ministry to reconsider and repeal their acts. Nor was the state 
of American manufactures unpropitious to such measures. The 
smelting of iron ore had been brought to such perfection as 
greatly to check the importation of it from foreign countries. 
Potash had become a consitlerable article of exportation ; and the 



280 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

making of coarse woolens had so prevailed as to afford essential 
aid in clothing. 

As soon as the General Court met at Boston, after the passage 
of the act, it proceeded to take into consideration the state of 
public affairs. After discussing the difficulties of the colonies, 
and what dutiful address it might be proper to make to his 
Majesty and the Parliament, respecting the late laws, they pro- 
ceeded to lay the foundation of the American Revolution. They 
voted that it M'as highly expedient there should be a meeting, as 
soon as might be, of committees from the House of Representatives 
or Burgesses in the several colonies on this continent, to consult 
together on their present circumstances, and the difficulties to 
which they were reduced by the operation of the late acts of Par- 
liament for laying duties and taxes on them, and to consider of a 
general and humble address to his Majesty and the Parliament, 
to implore relief They then agreed that the meeting should be 
held at New York, on the first Tuesday of October fblloM'ing, and 
directed letters to be forthwith prepared and transmitted to the re- 
spective Speakers of the several Houses of Representatives or Bur- 
gesses, to advise them of this resolution, and to invite them to join, 
by their committee, in the meeting. The House then prepared 
the form of a circular letter, and appointed a committee in behalf 
of Massachusetts, consisting of three persons, to carry out these 
objects. 

With reference to the late riots, so notoriously instigated by the 
leading men of the colony, their answer to the queries was dis- 
tinguished for that cautious evasion which had ever characterized 
the Puritans. We inherit, they said, from our fathers, the high- 
est relish for civil liberty ; but we hope never to see the time, 
when it shall be expedient to countenance any methods for its 
preservation, but such as are legal and regular. When our sacred 
rights are infringed, we feel the grievance ; but we understand 
the nature of our happy constitution too well, and entertain too 
high an opinion of the virtue and justice of Parliament, to en- 
courage any means of redress, but what are justifiable by that 
constitution. 

They then passed, by a unanimous vote, several resolutions, 
which have since acquired great celebrity, as forming the basis 
of all subsequent declarations of American rights. They asserted 
that there were certain essential rights common to mankind, 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 281 

founded in the law of God and Nature, and that they were rec- 
ognized by the British Constitution ; that the inhabitants of the 
province were entitled to those rights, in common with all men, 
and that no law of society could justly deprive them of the enjoy- 
ment of them — that no man could take the property of another 
without his consent, and that on this principle is founded the 
right of representation in the same body which made laws for 
raising taxes ; that by the royal charter, the people of the prov- 
ince were entitled to all the liberties and immunities of free and 
natural subj^-cts of Great Britain ; that they appertained to the 
people of the province in common justice, as they settled the 
country at their own expense, and had defended themselves in 
lime of danger, and having large taxes to pay for the support of 
government in the colony, it would be unjust to require them to 
assist in the support of that of England ; that a representation 
of the people in Parliament was impracticable, and therefore the 
powers of legislation were allowed to be exercised in America ; 
that, therefore, all laws made by any power whatever, other 
than the General Assembly of the province, imposing taxes on the 
inhabitants, were infringements of their inherent and inalienable 
rights, as men and British subjects, and rendered void the most 
valuable declaration of their charter. They also complained of 
the powers exercised by the Courts of Admiralty, where there 
were no juries, and cases were decided in a capricious and 
arbitrary manner. These resolutions the House ordered to be 
recorded, "that a just sense of liberty, and their firm sentiments 
of loyalty, might be transmitted to posterity." 

While the General Court was sitting, a vessel arrived from 
England with large quantities of stamped paper for Massachusetts, 
New Hampshire, and Pvhode Island. The governor, at a loss how 
to dispose of them, and probably anxious to avoid giving oflense, 
asked the advice of the Council, who referred him to the House 
of Representatives. The House said, in reply to the message on 
the subject, " that as the stamps were brought into the province 
without their directions, it might prove of ill consequence to them 
to take any concern in the matter." He then again asked the 
opinion of the Council, as to the proper disposition ofthe stamps, 
who advised that they be deposited at the Castle, to wait the or- 
ders of the British Ministry. By tiie 1st of November, the time 
the act was to take efiect, not a sheet of stamped paper was to be 



282 THE ENGI.ISH IN AMERICA 

had throughout the several colonies of New York, New England, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and the two 
Carolinas, except a small parcel, which the governor of New 
York, terrified by the threats of the enraged populace, had sur- 
rendered into the hands of the corporation of that place, on con- 
dition of their not being destroyed like the rest ; so that all 
business, which could not be legally carried on without stamps, 
was at once suspended, except that of publishing newspapers, 
which the printers still continued ; pleading, in excuse, that if 
they did not, the populace would serve them as they had done 
the stamp-masters themselves. 

But the consequence of this stagnation was soon felt so severely, 
that the inhabitants began to think how they could eflectually 
elude it. To this end some wag, fruitful in expedients, sent to 
the printers at Boston a thin piece of bark, on which he had 
written, that it being neither paper, parchment, nor vellum, he 
would be glad to know if instruments, written on such stuff, 
might not be valid, though not stamped ; in which case, he was 
ready to supply with good writing-bark all those whose consciences 
were bound by the late act. At last, the governors of some of 
the provinces, though bound by the laws to swear to see it ob- 
served, under the severest penalties, finding the total stoppage of 
all public business so injurious to the community, thought proper 
to dispense with the the use of stamps, grounding their justifica- 
tion on the absolute impossibility of procuring any ; and accordingly 
granted certificates of that impossibility to all outward bound 
vessels to protect them from the penalties of the act in other parts 
of his Majesty's dominions. 

To testify their indignation still further, combinations against 
the trade of England became every where general. The mer- 
chants entered into the most solemn engagements with each other, 
not only not to import any goods from Great Britain, let the con- 
sequences be what they would, and to recall the orders they had 
already given, if not obeyed by the 1st January, 1766, but even 
not to dispose of any British goods sent them on commission, that 
were shipped before that day : or if they consented to any relaxa- 
tion from these engagements, it was not to take place till the 
Stamp Act, and even the Sugar and Paper-money Acts, were re- 
pealed. The people of Philadelphia likewise resolved, though 
not unanimously, that till such repeal, no lawyer should put in 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 283 

suit a demand for money owing to a resident in America from 
one in England ; nor any person in America, however indebted 
in England, to make any remittances there. 

These resolutions were adopted by the retailers, who unani- 
mously agreed not to buy or sell any British goods shipped to 
them. At the same time, lest their own new woolen manufac- 
tories should fall short for want of materials, most of the inhabit- 
ants came to the resolution not to eat any mutton ; and to extend 
the influence of their resolution to those who did not join them in 
it, nor to deal with any butcher that should kill or expose any 
sheep for sale. The most substantial, and even fashionable 
people, were foremost in setting the example to their countrymen, 
by contenting themselves with home-spun or old clothes, rather 
than make use of any tiling British, of which they were formerly 
so conspicuously fond. Such were the efforts of all ranks, and so 
prudent their measures, that many now began to be convinced 
of what they had till then thought impossible, that the colonies 
would soon be able to supply themselves with every necessary of 
life. When the value of imposts from Great Britain, nearly 
three millions annually is taken into consideration, it must be 
admitted that the mode of retaliation was one likely to be severe- 
ly felt, and deeply lamented by a trading people, hke the English. 

In the midst of this general excitement, at the day appointed 
by Massachusetts, committees from nine colonies met at New 
York, and the Congress was organized by the appointment of a 
President. One of the first rules adopted M'as, to give each colo- 
ny represented one vote. In the course of a three weeks' session, a 
" Declaration of the Pvights and Grievances of the Colonies" was 
agreed to. All the privileges of Englishmen were claimed by it 
as the birth-right of the colonists ; among the rest, the right of 
being taxed only by their own consent. Since distance and local 
circumstances made a representation in the British Parliament 
impossible, their delegates, it was maintained, could be no other 
than the several colonial legislatures. A petition to the king, and 
memorials to each House of Parhament, were also prepared, in 
which the cause of the Provincials was eloquently pleaded. To 
these proceedings, the several colonial assemblies, at their earliest 
session, gave their cordial approval. 

A change in the English Ministry, which took place in July, 
and the news of which reached America in September, encour- 



284 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

aged the colonists in the stand they had taken. This change 
originated in domestic reasons, wholly unconnected with the 
American polity ; it was regarded, however, as favorable to the 
general cause of freedom. The old Whig aristocracy which had 
governed the kingdom since the accession of the House of Han- 
over, had split up of late into several bitter and hostile factions, 
chiefly founded on mere personal considerations. Pitt's repeated 
attacks on former ministries, and at last, his forcing himself into 
power, had contributed not a little to this result. The accession 
of George III. had given rise to a new party, by which Pitt him- 
self had been superseded. In the address from the throne, at 
the opening of the session, the new Ministers brought the state 
of colonial affairs before Parliament. They produced the corre- 
spondence of the provincial governors, and other papers relating 
to the late disturbances. Numerous petitions from British mer- 
chants for the repeal of the Stamp Act were also presented to the 
two Houses. 

Pitt now appeared in his place in the House of Commons, and 
delivered his opinion, " that the kingdom had no right to lay a 
tax on the colonies. The commons in America, represented in 
their several Assemblies, have invariably exercised the constitu- 
tional right of giving and granting their own money ; they would 
have been enslaved if they had not ; at the same time this king- 
dom has ever possessed the power of legislative and commercial 
control. The colonies acknowledge your authority in all things, 
with the sole exception that you shall not take their money out 
of their pockets without their consent." " We are told America 
is obstinate," he said, " and is almost in open rebellion. Sir, I 
rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people so 
dead to all the feelings of liberty, as voluntarily to submit to be 
slaves would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the 
rest." " The Americans have been wronged I They have been 
driven to madness by injustice ! Will you punish them for the 
madness you have occasioned? No I Let this country be the 
first to resume its prudence and temper; I will pledge myself for 
the colonies, that on their part animosity and resentment will 
cease." 

The new Ministry were under no obligation to support the 
policy of their predecessors. Anxious to escape the difficulty by 
the readiest means, they brought in a bill for repealing the Stamp 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 285 

Act, which in spite of a very strenuous opposition, on the part of 
the supporters of the late Ministry, was carried in the Commons 
by a vote of two hundred and seventy-five, to one hundred and 
sixty-seven. A resolution of the House of Commons had demand- 
ed indemnity from the colonies for such Crown officers as had 
suffered losses in the late Stamp Act riots : New York promptly 
complied. After much urging by the governor, Massachusetts 
passed a similar act ; but a free pardon to the rioters, inserted in 
it, betrayed the state of public feehrig and gave great ofTense in 
England. 

The preamble to this bill contains the following extraordinary 
recital : "As the King's Most Excellent Majesty, from a desire 
that the sufTerers in the late riots should be compensated, and a 
vail be drawn over the late unhappy excesses, has been pleased 
to signify his intention to forgive and forget them, at the same 
time in his abundant clemency recommending compensation to 
the sufierers; from a grateful sense of his Majesty's grace and 
clemency, in order to promote peace and safety, to make compen- 
sation to said sufferers, and thus to demonstrate to the world the 
happiness we enjoy in being a part of the British Empire, and 
being entitled to the rights, liberties, and privileges of British 
subjects, we. His Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the 
representatives of the Coinmons, of this province, in General 
Court assembled, have resolved to give and grant, &c." They 
resolved that their reasons for making the compensation were 
" from a loyal and grateful regard to the king's mild and gracious 
recommendation, from deference to the opinions of the illustrious 
friends of the colonies in England, and for the sake of internal 
peace and order, without regard to any interpretation of His 
Majesty's recommendation, into a requisitio7i precluding all de- 
hate and controversy ; under a full persuasion that the sufierers 
had no just claim on the province ; and that this compliance 
ought not, hereafter, to be drawn into a precedent." 



CHAPTEE V. 

FROM THE PwEPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT TO THE BATTLE OF BUNKER's 
HILL, AND THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Joy at Repeal of Stamp Act — Fresh Discontent as to Continuance of the 
Sugar Act — Townshend's Scheme for raising a Revenue, maintainga Standing 
Army, and giving permanent Salaries to Governors and Judges — Tax on 
Paper, Glass, Lead, and Tea — New York refuses to provide for quartering 
the Troops — Its Assembly restrained from Legislative Functions — Board of 
Revenue established in America — Pensylvania instructs her Agents to oppose 
the Tea Act — Massachusetts addresses a Circular Letter to tiie other Colonies 
on the Subject — Office of Secretary of State for the Colonies created — Lord 
Hillsborough calls upon the General Court to rescind the Proceedings relative 
to its Circular Letter, but it refuses — Most of the Colonies aijprove of the 
Conduct of Massachusetts — Seizure of the Sloop " Liberty" — The Mob assaults 
the Commissioners, and attacks their House — They take refuge on board of 
a Man-of war, and afterward retire to Castle William — Tovtai Meeting called 
to consider the Subject of Troops being allowed in Boston — People advised 
to arm themselves — A Convention meets, but the Governor will not ac- 
knowledge it — Arrival of two Regiments from Hahfax — Proceedings as to 
quartering them — One Regiment encamped on the Common, the other 
lodged in the Town Hall — Proceedings in Parliament relative to the State 
of the Colonies — General Court adjourned to Cambridge — Refuses to provide 
for the Troops — Conduct of the other Colonies — Lord Hillsborough informs the 
Colonial Assemblies that he will repeal all the Duties except that on Tea — 
Mob at Boston attacks a Picket Guard of Soldiers, who fire and kill three 
Persons — Trial and Acquittal — The Governor surrenders Castle Island to the 
Commander of the Forces — People refuse to observe a Day of Thanksgiving 
— Association not to use Tea — Proceedings as to the Governor and Judges 
receiving their Salaries from England — Destruction of the armed Schooner 
" Gaspe" — People refuse to allow Tea to be landed — A Cargo thrown into 
the Harbor — Proceedings in the other Colonies relative to the Tea Ships — 
Act of Parliament for closing the Port of Boston — Another for amending the 
Charter — Legislature of Massachusetts — Advise a Congress, and name the 1st 
of December and Philadelphia as the Time and Place of Meeting — The last 
General Court — Meeting of Congress — Declaration of Rigljts and other Pro- 
ceedings — Non-intercourse agreed upon — The General Court resolve them- 
selves into a Provincial Congress, and vote to raise twelve thousand Men, 
&c. — King's Stores seized at Rhode Island and New Hampshire— Proceed- 
ings in Parliament — Skirmish at Lexington — Commencement of the Revolu- 
tionary War. 

The repeal of the Stamp Act called forth the most lively de- 
monstrations of joy throughout the colonies; but this exultation 
arose as much from triumph as from relief from an impost. The 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 287 

contest had exhibited the utter inability cf English officials to 
execute enactments opposed to the interests and inclinations of 
the inhabitants, and satisfied the most timid of the power of the 
Provincials, if united, to resist either the laws or the arms of the 
mother country. It invited opposition, and where there is a dis- 
position to quarrel, subjects of dispute are never wanting. 

Although the Stamp Act was repealed, the Sugar Act, slightly 
modified, remained on the statute book, and was rigidly enforced. 
With a singular misapprehension of the character of the people 
for whom they were legislating, the Ministry accompanied almost 
every additional restriction with a corresponding boon. Thus, by 
an amendment of the latter law% all direct trade with France 
was prohibited ; while, to soften the harshness of the measure, 
iron and lumber M'ere allowed to be exported to European ports, 
south of Cape Finisterre. The one was regarded as an invasion, 
and the other as no more than an admission of right. The 
former, therefore, was resented as an injury, and the latter re- 
ceived with indifference or silence. 

Townshend had now become Chancellor of the Exchquer, who 
whatever his abilities might have been, could lay no claim to 
consistency of conduct, one of the first qualifications of a states- 
man. He had voted for the Stamp Act, and strenuously sup- 
ported its repeal, an acknowledgment of error that induced the 
Americans to think his political advancement to the important 
office he held was a special mark of Divine favor. What, there- 
fore, was their astonishment, when they heard that his first meas- 
ure was to introduce a bill to raise a transatlantic revenue, for 
maintaining a standing army in the colonies, and for securing 
permanent salaries to governors and judges, and thereby render- 
ing them independent of the local Assemblies. While he affected 
to base this law on the distinction taken between internal and 
external taxation, he violated the principle by imposing duties on 
certain British productions, such as paints, paper, glass, and lead, 
to which was added another article, tea, afterward rendered so 
notorious. This law was supposed to be of easier execution than 
the Stamp Act, and it passed with little or no opposition. It 
received the royal assent on the 29th of June. 

The preamble states that the duties were laid " for the better 
support of government, and the administration of the colonies." 
One clause enabled the Crown, by sign manual, to establish a 



288 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

general civil list throughout every province of North America, to 
an indefinite extent, with salaries, pensions, or appointments. It 
provides, that after all such ministerial warrants, under the sign, 
manual, " as are thought proper and necessary," shall be satis- 
fied, the residue of the revenue shall be at the disposal of Parlia- 
ment. Contemporaneously with the Stamp Act a law had been 
passed by Parliament, that obliged the several Assemblies to pro- 
vide quarters for the soldiers, and furnish them with fire, beds, 
candles, and other articles, at the expense of their respective 
colonies. 

The British government receiving intelligence that New York 
had refused to provide for quartering the troops, a law was passed 
" for restraining the Assembly of that province from all legislative 
functions, until it had complied with the Act of Parliament for the 
furnishing his Majesty's troops with the requisite necessaries." 
The suspension of the House of Representatives in one colony 
justly excited alarm in all the rest ; for it was perceived that, by 
a parity of reason, others might be put on their trial for good be- 
havior, of which the British Ministry would be the sole judges. 
Georgia displayed some stubbornness on this same point ; but the 
withdrawal of the troops, leaving the colony exposed to Indian 
invasion from without, and negro insurrection within, soon brought 
the Assembly to terms. 

The Parliament also passed an act for establishing a Custom 
House and a Board of Commissioners in America, The act was 
to come into operation after the 20th day of November ; and, in 
the beirinning of that month, three commissioners arrived at 
Boston. The colonists, believing that this board was designed 
to enforce the new duties, were inflamed against them and their 
employers to the highest degree, and pronounced the appointment 
unconstitutional and oppressive. This measure called forth ad- 
ditional essays on colonial rights, and, among others, the cele- 
brated " Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabit- 
ants of the British Colonies," which had a rapid and extensive 
circulation throughout North America. The passage of these 
acts, and the determination they evinced to raise a transatlantic 
revenue, brought the Provincials in a body to the ground origin- 
ally taken by Otis, that imposts on trade, if designed for fixed 
purposes, were just as much a violation of their rights as any 
other tax. The acts accordingly met every where with the 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 289 

utmost opposition, and were denounced in resolves, petitions, ad- 
dresses, and remonstrances. 

Early in February the Pennsylvanian Assembly took into con- 
sideration the act imposing duties on paper, glass, paints, and 
teas, and gave positive instructions to its agents to unite with 
those of the other plantations, in applying to Parliament for re- 
lief. The Assembly of Massachusetts adopted a more grave and 
extensive measure. They drew up a circular letter to the sister 
colonies, in which they observed that " they had taken into their 
serious consideration the great difficulties that must accrue to 
themselves and their constituents, by the operation of several 
acts of ParHament, imposing duties on the American provinces," 
related the steps which they had taken in petitioning the king, 
and requested their co-operation in suitable measures to obtain 
redress. 

In their instructions to their agent, which is a very ably writ- 
ten paper, they furnished him, at length, with the arguments 
best suited to serve their cause. 

" It is the glory of the British Constitution," they said, " that 
it has its foundation in the laws of God and Nature. It is a 
natural and essential right, that a man shall quietly enjoy and 
have the sole disposal of his own property. This is recognized 
in the constitution. And this natural and constitutional privi- 
lege is so famiUar to the people in America, that it would be 
difficult, if possible, to convince them, that any necessity can ren- 
der it just and equitable that Parliament should impose duties or 
taxes on them, internal or external, for the sole purpose of raising 
a revenue. The reason is obvious, that they are not represented, 
and their consent can not constitutionally be had in Parliament." 
" The security of property and right is the great end of govern- 
ment ; and such measures as render right and property precarious, 
tend to destroy government also. But what property can the 
colonists be supposed to have, if their money can be granted 
away by others, and without their own consent ? Yet this is the 
case at present, for they were in no sense represented in Parlia- 
ment, when the act for raising a revenue in America was passed. 
The Stamp Act was complained of as a grievance, and is there 
any diiierence between the late act and that 1 They were both 
designed to raise a revenue." 

Amid these distractions, a new establishment was created in 

N 



290 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

England, by wlilch a Secretary of State was appointed to the 
department of the colonies, superseding, in many particulars, the 
power and authority of the Board of TraeKe, which was a most 
unwise measure. The letter of Massachusetts to the Assembhes 
of the other provinces, occasioned an order from Lord Hillsbor- 
ough, who first filled the new office, to the king's representative, 
to call on the General Court to rescind the resolution on which 
it was founded, on pain of dissolution ; while he, at the same 
time, addressed a circular dispatch to the governors of the several 
provinces to whom the seditious letter had been sent. " As his 
Majesty," he observed, " considers this measure to be of the most 
dangerous and factious tendency, calculated to inflame the minds 
of his good subjects in the colonies, and promote an unwarranta- 
ble combination, and to exhibit an open opposition to, and denial 
of the authority of Parliament, and to subvert the true principles 
of the constitution, it is his Majesty's pleasure, that you should 
immediately, upon the receipt hereof, exert your utmost influence 
to defeat this flagitious attempt to disturb the public peace, 
by prevailing upon the Assembly of your province to take no 
notice of it, which will be treating it with the contempt it 
deserves." 

When the demand was made on the General Court to rescind 
the obnoxious proceedings, they replied to the governor that 
*' that resolution has now no existence but as a mere historical 
fact. Your Excellency must know that it is, to speak in the 
language of the common law, not now executory, but to all in- 
tents and purposes executed. If, as is most probable, by the 
word ' rescinding' is intended the passing a vote in direct and ex- 
press disapprobation of the measure taken by the former House as 
illegal, inflammatory, and tending to promote unjustifiable com- 
binations against his Majesty's peace, crown, and dignity, we 
must take the liberty to testify and publicly to declare that we 
take it to be the native, mherent, and indefeasible right of the 
subject, jointly or severally, to petition the king for the redress 
of grievances ; provided always that the same be done in a decent, 
dutiful, and constitutional way, without tumult, disorder, and 
confusion. If the votes of the House are to be controlled by the 
direction of a Minister, we have left us but a vain semblance of 
liberty. We have now only to inform you, that this House 
have voted not to rescind ; £^nd that, on a division on the question, 



THE E .N G M S 11 IN A Yi L 11 I C A. 291 

there were ninety-two nays, and seventeen yeas." The next day 
the governor dissolved the Assembly. 

Most of the other legislatures approved of the transactions of 
Massachusetts, and harmonized with that colony in resohes and 
petitions. Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia, and Georiria had 
given a cordial response to its circular, and in Maryland and 
New York, Lord Hillsborough's interference produced an effect 
the opposite of what he desired. The Burgesses of Virginia voted 
a memorial to the Lords, and a remonstrance to the Commons, 
against the late acts of Parliament. They dwelt with particular 
force upon the act suspending the legislative powers of the New- 
York Assembly. In consequence of these resolutions Lord Boute- 
tourt, who had succeeded Fouquier as governor, dissolved the 
local Parhament. The Assemblies of Maryland and Georgia 
having approved the proceedings of Massachusetts, were also dis- 
solved. The New York Assembly still obstinately refusing to 
make the required provision for the troops, that body was dissolved 
in like manner. 

But this appeal to the people made no change in the character 
or temper of the Burgesses. At a new election, the popular side 
was even strengthened. Meanwhile the merchants had been 
greatly irritated by increased strictness in the collection of duties, 
and by suits even for past breaches of the revenue laws. Great 
offense was also taken on another subject : on the arrival of the 
sloop " Liberty," laden with wane from Madeira, it appeared that 
she had discharged her cargo, and in part reloaded with a quan- 
tity of oil, which was done under pretense of converting her into 
a store, without any attention having been paid to the new laws, 
or to the Custom House regulations. Upon the seizure, the offi- 
cers made a signal to the " Romney" man-of-war, and her boats 
were sent manned and armed, who cut away the sloop's fasts, 
and conveyed her undeT the protection of that ship. The popu- 
lace, having assembled in great crowds upon this occasion, pelted 
the commissioners of the customs with stones, broke one of their 
swords, and treated them in every respect with the greatest out- 
rage ; after which they attacked their houses, demolished the 
windows, and hauled the collector's boat to the Common, where 
they burned it, to the great delight of the mob. The officers of 
the customs, upon these extraordinary acts of violence, found it 
necessary for the security of their lives to retire on board the man- 



292 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

of-war, from whence they removed to Castle William, a fortifi- 
cation on a small island in the harbor, where they resumed the 
functions of their office. 

In the mean time, town meetings were held, and a remon- 
strance presented to the governor, in which the rights they 
claimed were supported in direct opposition to the Imperial Leg- 
islature, and an extraordinary requisition made that he would 
issue an order for the departure of his Majesty's s-hip the " Ptom- 
ney" out of the harbor. While things were in this unhappy situ- 
ation, two regiments were ordered from Ireland to support the 
civil government, and several detachments from different parts 
of the continent rendezvoused at Halifax for the same purpose. 
No menace made by the most dangerous and cruel enemy could 
excite a greater alarm than this intelligence did at Boston, 
where it was regarded as an act of invasion or conquest. Upon 
the first rumor of it, a meeting of the inhabitants was immediate- 
ly summoned at Faneuil Hall, where they chose one of their late 
popular representatives as moderator. A committee was then 
appointed to wait on the governor, to know what grounds he had 
for intimations he had lately given that some regiments of his 
Majesty's forces were expected in that town, and at the same 
time to petition him to issue precepts to convene a General As- 
sembly. The governor answered that his information about the 
arrival of the troops was of a private nature, and that he could 
not call another Assembly until he received his Majesty's instruc- 
tions, under whose consideration it now was. 

A committee, which had been appointed to consider of the 
present state of affairs, gave in their report a long declaration 
and recital of their rights, and the supposed infractions of them, 
which had been lately made, and passed several hasty resolutions, 
particularly in regard to the legality of raising or keeping a 
standing army among them without their own consent. Among 
other things they recommended a convention of delegates to be 
chosen. But the most extraordinary act of this town-meeting 
was a requisition to the inhabitants that, as there ivas a prevail 
ing cqyprchension in the miiids of many of a war tvith France, 
they should accordingly be provided with arms, ammunition, and 
the necessary accoutrements, so as to be properly prepared in case 
of sudden danger. A day of public prayer and fasting was then 
appointed, and the meeting dissolved. Ninety-six towns appoint- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 293 

ed committees to attend the convention, whose first act on assem- 
bhng was to send a message to the governor, in which they dis- 
claimed all pretense to any authoritative acts, stating that they 
were chosen by the several towns, and came freely and volunta- 
rily, at the earnest desire of the people, to consult and advise 
such measures as might promote peace and good order in their 
present alarming situation. They then reiterated their griev- 
ances, complained that they were grossly misrepresented in Great 
Britain, and pressed the governor in the most urgent terms to 
convoke a General Assembly. In reply, he admonished them, 
as a friend to the province, and a well-wisher to themselves, to 
separate immediately. This answer produced a message, where- 
in they justified their meeting as being only an assemblage of 
private persons, and desifed explanations as to the criminality 
with which their proceedings were charged. The governor re- 
fused to receive that or any other communication from them, as 
it would be admitting them to be a legal assembly, which he 
would not by any means allow. The convention then appoint- 
ed a committee, who drew up a report, in which they assigned 
the causes of their meeting, disclaimed all pretense to any author- 
ity whatsoever, and recommended the people to pay the greatest 
deference to Government, and to M^ait with patience for the result 
of his Majesty's wisdom and clemency for a redress of their 
grievances. Having then prepared a representation of their con- 
duct, and a detail of many of the late transactions, to be trans- 
mitted to their agent in London, they returned to their homes. 
The day after they adjourned, the fleet from Halifax, consisting 
of several frigates and sloops of w^ar and some transports, with 
two regiments and a detachment of artillery, arrived in the har- 
bor. When the Council was called upon to find accommodation 
for them, they insisted that they should occupy the barracks out 
of the town, at the Castle ; for if the act for quartering soldiers 
was at all applicable to them, it could only be so when no other 
provision could be found. When peremptorily ordered to do so, 
they said that it was the duty of the select-men, who, when ap- 
plied to, shifted off' the task upon the justices, who in their turn 
replied that raising or expending money belonged solely to the 
General Court. In the mean time two regiments were landed ; 
one was encamped on the Common, and the other lodged in the 
Town Hall and other places, while preparation was made by the 



294 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

governor for erecting a building for their reception ; but this 
was soon deraohshed by the mob. 

"When ParUament assembled, all the papers relating to the 
colonies, and particularly to the recent riots in Massachusetts, 
were laid before the two Houses. The Lords severely censured 
those proceedings, particularly the convention held at Boston. 
They approved of the conduct of the Ministry, and recommended 
instructions to the governor of Meissachusetts, to obtain full in- 
formation of all treasons, and to transmit the offenders to En- 
gland, to be tried there under an old statute of Henry VIII. for 
the punishment of treasons, committed out of the kingdom.^ 

In the spring of 1769 writs were issued for the choice of repre- 
sentatives, to meet at Boston, on the last Wednesday of May. 
When they assembled, before attending to the usual business of 
the session, or choosing Councilors, the House adopted resolutions 
and a protest, in which, they declared that they would, to the 
utmost of their power, support and maintain a constitutional 
freedom in their elections, debates, and deliberations, that having' 
an armed force by sea and land, in and near the metropolis, while 
the Legislature was in session, was a breach of privilege, and 
inconsistent with that dignity and freedom with which they had 
a right to deliberate and determine ; and they proceeded to take 
part in the elections of the day, from necessity only. When the 
governor found the House thus firm, he adjourned the General 
Court to Cambridge ; and there again reminded them, that much 
time had been spent, and the public business still remained un- 
done. He stated what he thought necessary to be attended to, 
and requested them to dispatch it, that the Legislature might be 
adjourned. 

"We have already declared," they said, "our sense of the 
injury done this people, by the exertions of a few selfish men, 
who have caused the quartering of regular troops among us in a 
time of peace ; even in time of war, the act of Parliament only 
requires provision to be made by a colony for a short period, while 
they are on their way to their final destination. The whole 
continent has been sometime distressed with acts of Parliament, 
imposing taxes, for the purposes of raising a revenue from the 
people without their consent, or those of their representatives, and 
we take leave to say that we deem all such acts to be for laying 

* See Bradford's Hist. Mass. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 295 

a tribute for the purpose of dissipation among pensioners and 
placemen. And if the present be continued, it will be difficult 
to distinguish the case of widows and orphans in America, plun- 
dered by infamous informers, from those who suffered under the 
most oppressive of the Roman governors of provinces. The free 
representatives of the yet free people of America are called upon 
to advance such sums of money, as those may demand over whom 
we have no control. As the agents of the people, we ought to 
grant only what we think reasonable, and they have ability to 
pay. Your Excellency must excuse us, therefore, in this explicit 
declaration, that as we can 'not consistently with our honor or 
interest, and much less icith the duty ive owe our constituents, so 
ice shall never make iwovision for the iniriioses in your two 7)ies- 
sages ynentionedr 

Finding the representatives unmanageable, Governor Bernard 
prorogued the Legislature, and departed for England, leaving the 
administration in the hands of the lieutenant-governor, Hutchin- 
son. Not long after, the grand jury of Suffolk county found 
indictments against him for libel, in writing letters to the king's 
Ministers, in which he slandered the inhabitants of the province. 
The spirit evinced in Massachusetts and Virginia, the two lead- 
ing colonies, pervaded almost the whole continent. The Assembly 
of South Carolina refused to find quarters for the troops sent to 
that province, and they adopted the resolutions of Virginia, as did 
also the delegates of Maryland and Delaware. 

The Legislature of North Carolina did the same thing, and 
was dissolved in consequence ; but the members immediately re- 
assembled in their private capacity, as had been done in Virginia, 
and entered into a non-importation agreement, which now, for 
the first time, became pretty general. It had been adopted even 
in Georgia and Rhode Island, hitherto very backward. New 
Hampshire, also, in spite of Governor Wentworth's influence, was 
forced into it by threats of non-intercourse. 

The partisans of the mother country were stigmatized as 
Tories, while the opponents of Parliamentary taxation took the 
name of Whigs, terms well understood in England. Toward 
the close of the session of Parliament, Pownall moved the repeal 
of Townshend's Act. But instead of meeting the measure by a 
direct negative, the Ministers proposed a reference of the subject 
to the next year. Shortly after the prorogation. Lord Hills- 



296 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

borough addressed a circular to the colonial governors, announcing 
the intention to repeal the clauses of the act that imposed duties 
on British goods, it being regarded as "contrary to the true 
principles of commerce." But the duty on tea, and the right of 
parliamentary taxation being still adhered to, this concession had 
little effect.* The seventeen months during which the British 
troops had been stationed in Boston (notwithstanding the agree- 
ment of the commanding officer to use only a single drum and 
fife on Sundays) had by no means reconciled the townspeople to 
their presence. The soldiers were subject to every species of 
annoyance. Wherever th«y went, they were followed by mobs, 
pelted, hooted at, and insulted. If found alone, they were hustled 
or beaten ; if in small parties, they were challenged to fight, or 
provoked to commit a breach of the peace. At last, they were 
compelled either to remain in their quarters, or to go in suffi- 
cient numbers to defend themselves. So systematic and open 
was this ill-usage, that the people did not even abstain from it 
when the soldiers were on duty ; and on one occasion attacked 
a picket-guard of eight men so furiously, that they fired into 
the crowd, killing three persons, and dangerously wounding five 
others. 

This was the result aimed at throughout. The bells were 
rung, and a cry spread through the town, " The soldiers are 
rising." It was late at night; but the population poured into 
the streets; nor was it wdthout difficulty that a general combat 
was prevented. The next morning, at an early hour, Faneuil 
Hall was filled with an excited and indignant assembly. At a 
town meeting, legally warned, held that afternoon in the Old 
South Meeting House, the largest building in the town, it was 
voted " that nothing could be expected to restore peace, and 
prevent blood and carnage, but the immediate removal of the 
troops. "t The funeral of the slain, attended by a vast concourse 
of people, was celebrated with all possible pomp. The story of 
the " Boston Massacre," as it was called, exaggerated into a fe- 
rocious and unprovoked assault by brutal soldiers on a defenseless 
people, produced every where intense excitement. The officer 
and picket-guard were indicted, and tried for murder. They 
were defended, however, by John Adams and Josiah Quincy, two 
young lawyers among the most zealous in the popular cause ; 
* See Hildreth's Hist. United States. t Ibid. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 297 

and so clear a case was made out in their behalf, that they were 
all acquitted, except two, who were found guilty of manslaughter, 
and slightly jjunished. 

By a singular coincidence, on the very day that this happened 
in Boston, Lord North brought forward the promised motion to 
repeal the whole of Townshend's Act, except the duty on tea. 
" That," he observed, " had been the occasion of most dangerous, 
violent, and illegal combinations in America against the import- 
ation and use of British manufactures. The English merchants 
had petitioned against it. As to articles of British produce, ever 
to have taxed them was indeed an absurd violation of established 
policy. The tax on tea stood on a different ground. When 
that was imposed, a drawback had been allowed on the exporta- 
tion of tea to America ; and as the colonists were thus relieved 
of a duty amounting on an average to a shilJing a pound, they 
had no right to complain of a tax of three-pence, since they gain- 
ed, in fact, nine-pence in the pound by the change. He could have 
wished to repeal the whole act, could that have been done without 
giving up the right of taxing the colonies— a right he would con- 
tend for to the last hour of his life. The proposed repeal, with- 
out any relaxation of authority, -was intended as a persuasive to 
bring the colonists back to their duty. The existing combinations 
in the colonies against the use of British manufactures, he thought 
would soon come to an end. The obnoxious Quartering Act, 
limited by its terms to three years, was suflered silently to expire. 
But the Sugar Act, and especially the tax on tea, as they involved 
the whole principle of parliamentary taxation, were quite suffi- 
cient to keep up the discontent of the colonies."* 

In the summer of 1770, the lieutenant-governor surrendered 
the fortress of Castle Island into the hands of the commanding 
officer of the British troops. The House of Representatives re- 
monstrated against it, as a gross breach of trust, and a most rep- 
rehensible disregard of the rights and safety of the people. But 
he pleaded ministerial instructions, and orders from General 
Gage at New York. To their agents in London, Franklin and 
Lee, the Assembly wrote, in most pressing terms, to procure them 
redress. The former, with his usual sagacity, foresaw the result 
of these continual struggles between the imperial and local legis- 
latures. In one of his letters, dated in May, 1771, he said *' he 

■* t^ee Bradford. 



298 THE ExXCLISIl I>; A Si ERIC A. 

saw, in the policy of administration, that the seeds were sowing 
for a total disunion of the tv/o countries. Men are appointed to 
office and power by the Ministry, who will be insolent and rapa- 
cious, and who will become odious to the people, and will mis- 
represent and calumniate them. They will complain, and apply 
to the parent government for more power, and for aid from the 
military. The oppressions on the people will lead to riots and 
violences. Greater force and rigor will be necessary to keep the 
people in subjection. Force will beget force in opposition. War 
will ensue, and the alternative wiTl be absolute slavery or inde- 
pendence. I am no prophet ; but history shows that by such 
steps great empires have been divided." 

When the usual proclamation for a public thanksgiving was 
issued, in the fall of 1771, the people of Boston prevailed on the 
clergy of the town, and of some places in the country, to omit 
reading it. Their objection to it was " that it called on the peo- 
ple to give thanks for their civil and religious liberties." They 
said " it was not true, and that it would be acknowledging their 
political rights remained unimpaired, which all knew not to be 
the case. Their rights were denied and violated, and it would 
be mockery to thank Heaven for the continuance of such a state 
of things. The partial repeal of the taxes under the new act 
was considered so unsatisfactory, that some of the principal towns 
agreed that no tea should be imported, and that if any should be 
brought into their parts it should be smuggled, to avoid the pay- 
ment of duty. An association was formed at the same time, not 
to use it until the obnoxious act should be repealed. The gover- 
nor having announced to the Legislature that he had received 
instructions that his salary and those of the judges, would be paid 
by the Crown, instead of the province, in which the amount had 
hitherto been a subject of continual agitation, they were unwilling 
to be deprived of this source of annoyance. Far from regarding 
this payment as a favor, the House denounced it as a violation 
of the charter — no better in fact than a standing bribe. After 
the Court had adjourned, the people of Boston took up the mat- 
ter. A town meeting was held, at which a large committee of 
the most active popular leaders was appointed to state the rights 
of the colonists, especially those of Massachusetts, " as men, as 
Christians, and as British subjects ;" to communicate and publish 
the same to the several towns of the province aiid to the world, 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 299 

with the infringements and violations from time to time made, 
and to request their sentiments on the subject.* 

Adams rendered himself prominent by his pubUcations on this 
topic. He argued that the judges did not, in fact, hold their 
offices during good behavior, though such ought to be the tenure, 
for there vi^as great danger of their becoming the mere tools of 
the British Government. Such was the temper of the times, 
^that when the governor requested that the Province House, so 
called, in Boston, which had often been the residence of the chief 
magistrate, might be repaired and made fit for the reception of 
his family, the Court replied, that the building was intended for 
a governor who received his support from them ; but as he chose 
to be maintained by the British Government, and declined a 
salary offered by the province, they did not feel obliged to be at 
any expense for his accommodation. So much was the import- 
ance of this matter exaggerated, that the committee to whom it 
was referred made a long report, in which they thought it neces- 
sary to preface this dreadful grievance, by asserting their inalien- 
able and natural rights as men, for which they were indebted to 
none but their Creator, and with which no government or prince 
might interfere except by consent or contract. They then went 
on to claim equal privileges with their brethren in England, who 
were represented in Parliament. They added that the Christian 
religion gave its sanction to their views of civil liberty, and justi- 
fied the authority which their fathers had always exercised. 
They then referred to their grievances, and to the various in- 
stances in which their rights had been infringed, and especially 
to the flagrant attempt of the Crown to bribe the governor and 
judges by paying their salaries. In their circular letter to the 
other towns in the province, they expressed their fears " that a 
system of despotism and oppression was preparing, which, unless 
soon and vigorously opposed, would seal their political degrada- 
tion." "They should deeply regret," they said, " if there were 
not a spirit still existing such as animated their ancestors, which 
induced them, in the face of every difficulty and danger, to forsake 
their native country, and make a settlement on hare creation. 
They ivere not afraid of poverty, but they disdained slavery.'' 

Most of the towns in the province rephed to this address, and 
manifested the same uncompromising temper. Nearly a whole 
* See Kildreth and Bradford. 



300 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 

session of their legislature was occupied with this subject. The 
House requested the judges to decline receiving their salaries 
from England. Three of them declared their readiness to accept 
them from the province, as they had done. But Mr. Oliver, the 
Chief Justice, said, " he dare not decline drawing it from England 
without leave first obtained from the king." It was then voted 
that, by this conduct he had become obnoxious to the good people 
of the province, and had rendered himself unfit to hold the office 
of a justice of the Court. The House then remonstrated to the 
governor and Council against the conduct of the Chief Justice, 
and prayed for his removal from office. The former refused to 
consult with them on the subject, on the ground that it belonged 
to the king alone to suspend or recall him. The Assembly then 
addressed themselves to the Council, and requested the governor 
to have the matter submitted to the board, but he took no notice 
of the application.* The delegates thereupon resolved by a vote 
of ninety-six to nine, to impeach the Chief Justice of high crimes 
and misdemeanors, and both the branches passed a resolution for 
the adjournment of the Court to a distant day. It was proposed 
in the Assembly to memorialize the king to recall the governor, 
who had thus interposed his shield to protect the judges ; but it 
was opposed by one of the members (Hawley) on this remark- 
able ground, " as his remove would deprive them of a cause of 
clamor. "t A better key to their conduct is not to be found in 
the whole of their history. 

The people were so far wrought upon by these measures, that 
the grand juries in Middlesex and Worcester, where the superior 
Courts were held in April, refused to take the usual oaths, or to 
proceed to business, until they were assured that Chief Justice 
Oliver would not attend. When a population had been so long 
trained to disregard authority, it was natural that they should 
soon break out into open acts of violence. | The "Gaspe," an 
armed schooner, which had been stationed at Providence, and 
had been very assiduous in supporting the laws of trade, excited 
much resentment by firing at the Providence packets, to oblige 
the masters to take down their colors, and by chasing them, in 
case of refusal, even into the docks. A packet coming up to 
Providence with passengers, and refusing to pay that tribute of 

* See Bradford. t Chalmers's Hist. Am. Col. 

tSee Holmes's Annals. Hildreth. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 301 

respect, was fired at by the lieutenant, and chased. It being 
about high water, the packet stood in as closely as possible with 
the land, designing that the schooner should be run aground in the 
pursuit. The artifice succeeded. The " Gaspe" was soon fast, 
and the other proceeded to Providence, where a plan was laid to 
destroy the obnoxious vessel. Captain Whimple was immedi- 
ately employed to beat up for volunteers ; several whaleboats 
were procured, and filled with armed men ; and about two 
o'clock the next morning, they boarded her as she lay aground. 
The lieutenant, with whatever was most valuable to him, was 
sent ashore, with the crew ; and the cutter, with all her stores, 
was burned. A reward of five hundred pounds, together with a 
pardon, if claimed by an accomplice, was offered by proclama- 
tion, for discovering and apprehending any person concerned in 
this action. 

In consequence of this daring outrage, an act of Parliament 
was passed, for sending to England for trial, all persons concerned, 
in the colonies, in burning or destroying his Majesty's ships, dock- 
yards, or military stores. But though the perpetrators were well 
known, no legal evidence could be obtained against them. The 
British Government, though determined to carry into execution 
the duty on tea, attempted to effect by policy, what was found to 
be impracticable by constraint. The measures of the colonists 
had already produced such a diminution of exports from Great 
Britain, that the warehouses of the East India Company con- 
tained about seventeen millions of pounds of tea, for which a 
market could not readily be procured. The unwillingness of the 
directors to lose their commercial profits, and of the Ministry to 
forego the expected revenue from the sale of it in America, led 
to a compromise for the security of both. The former were 
authorized by law to export their tea free of duties to all places 
whatever ; by which regulation, though loaded with an excep- 
tionable tax, it would come cheaper to America, than before it 
had been made a source of revenue. 

The crisis now approached, when the colonies were to decide, 
whether they would submit to be taxed by the British Parlia- 
ment, or practically support their own principles, and meet the 
consequences. One sentiment appears to have pervaded the en- 
tire continent. The new Ministerial plan was considered as a 
direct attack on the liberties of the colonists, which it was the 



302 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

duty of all lo oppose ; and a meeting was held, when the agree- 
ment not to purchase or use tea was revived, and it was further 
determined that the article should not be landed at all. The 
consignees were desired not to receive it, or allow it to be taken 
from the vessels. They declined giving any such promise. A 
second meeting was called, when it was voted, "that the duty 
on tea was a tax on the people, imposed without their consent ; 
and that sending the article into the province in this manner 
was an attempt to enforce the plan of the Ministry to raise a 
revenue, and was therefore a direct attack on. the liberties of the 
people ; and that whoever should receive or vend the tea would 
prove himself an enemy to the country."* A committee of the 
town was again directed to wait on the consignees with a re- 
quest that they would have no concern with the cargoes : but 
they returned an evasive answer, which was declared to be un- 
satisfactory. 

When the tea arrived, another meeting was held in Boston, 
attended also by the inhabitants of other towns, some of them at 
the distance of twenty miles. There was an unusual excitement. 
It was said " that the hour of ruin or of manly opposition had 
come." The word went forth " lor all who were friends of the 
country to make a united resistance to this last and worst mea- 
sure of the English administration, to use all lawful efforts to 
prevent the landing of the tea, and to have it returned to En- 
gland." The consignees became alarmed, and promised to ad- 
vise that it should be sent back ; but this was not sufficiently 
decisive to satisfy the people. 

In the mean time, application was made to the governor to 
order clearances for the vessels, that they might return ; but he 
declined, saying that it belonged to the officers of the customs to 
decide in such cases. He had already called upon the Council 
for advice as to a guard to prevent riots, and to protect the mer- 
chants in landing the teas ; but they refused to interfere in the 
affairs, as the civil magistrate was competent to order it. On the 
following day, the citizens again assembled, to learn the decision 
of the factors of the vessels and cargoes, when the sheriff appear- 
ed with a proclamation from the governor, which declared the 
meeting unlawful, and ordered the people to disperse. But a vote 
passed unanimously that they would not separate, as the meeting 

* See Bradford. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 303 

was regular, and their object important. They again resolved 
that they would prevent the landing of the tea, at every hazard, 
and requested the assistance of their fellow-citizens from the 
country towns, on due notice to be given, if the exigency should 
require it. Accordingly a number of men in disguise, as the 
meeting broke up, at the approach of night, proceeded to the 
vessels, and soon threw all the tea into the dock. 

The people throughout the province approved of the resistance 
of the inhabitants of Boston, and declared their readiness to sup- 
port them in opposition to all unjust and oppressive measures of 
the British Ministry. The opinion was increasing " that if they 
would maintain their rights and liberties, they must fioht for 
them." The vessel bound for Pennsylvania was stopped four 
miles below the city, and information having just arrived of the 
destruction of the tea at Boston, the captain w^as persuaded to 
return to England without attempting to land his cargo. An- 
other, similarly laden, destined for Boston, was wrecked on Cape 
Cod. The few chests of tea, saved from her cargo, were placed 
by the governor's order in the Castle ; but some twenty more, 
brought by another conveyance on the private account of some 
Boston merchants, were thrown into the water. After great 
delays, the New York tea-ship arrived at Sandy Hook. The 
pilots refused to bring her up, and a Committee of Vigilance soon 
took possession of her. The captain was informed by a deputa- 
tion that he must take back the ship and cargo; but the con- 
signee refused to give any orders for that purpose. Meanwhile 
another vessel arrived, and on the assurance that she had no tea 
on board, M^as allowed to come up to the town. But a report to 
the contrary soon spread; and the captain was obliged to ac- 
knowledge that he had eighteen packages, not belonging to the 
East India Company, but a private adventure. The populace 
immediately seized them and threw them into the river. 

A day or two after, with great parade, headed by a band 
playing " God Save the King," the bells ringing, and colors fly- 
ing from the liberty pole and the shipping, the captain of the 
East India tea-ship was escorted from the Custom House to a 
pilot boat, which took him to the Hook, where, under the direc- 
tion of the " Committee of Vigilance," the anchors were weigh- 
ed, and the vessel started on her homeward vovn;-\ Ti'.e 
Charleston tea-ship reached that city withoiit tl;itr-uli..H, mvi 



304 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

landed her cargo ; but it was stored in damp cellars, where it 
soon became utterly ^worthless. 

Intelligence of the destruction of the tea at Boston* was com- 
municated on the 7th of March, in a message from the throne, 
to both Houses of Parliament, and the conduct of the colonists 
represented, as not merely obstructing the commerce of the king- 
dom, but as subversive of the British Constitution. j Although 
it was evident that the opposition to the sale of tea was common 
to all the colonies, yet the Parliament, enraged at the violence 
of Boston, selected that town as the object of legislative ven- 
geance. A bill was accordingly passed by which that port was 
legally precluded from the privilege of landing and discharging, 
or of lading and shipping goods, wares, and merchandise. This 
act, M^hich shut up the harbor of Boston, was speedily follow- 
ed by another, entitled an act " for the better regulating the 
Government of Massachusetts." The object of this law was to 
abridge the charter of the province in several important particu- 
lars. The Council heretofore elected by the General Court, was 
to be nominated by the Crown ; the Royal Governor was invest- 
ed with the power of appointing and removing all judges of the 
inferior Courts of Common Pleas, Commissioners of Oyer and 
Terminer, the Attorney-general, Provost-marshal, Justices, 
Sheriffs, &c. ; town meetings, which were sanctioned by the 
charter, were, with few exceptions, forbidden, without leave 
previously obtained of the governor in writing, expressing the 
special business for which it was called, and with a further re- 
striction, that no other matter should be treated of, except the 
election of public officers ; jurymen, who had been elected before, 
by the freeholders and inhabitants, of the several towns, were to 
be summoned and returned by the sheriffs of the respective coun- 
ties. The whole executive government was taken out of the 
hands of the people, and the nomination of all important officers 
vested in the king or his representative.! In the apprehension 
that, in the execution of these acts, riots would take place, and 
that trials for murders, committed in suppressing them, would 
be partially decided by the colonists, it was provided by law, that 
if any persons were indicted for any capital offense, committed in 
aiding magistracy, the governor might send him to another 
colony, or to Great Britain, to be tried. 

* See Hildretli, vol. ll. t Holmes, vol. ii J Ibid. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 305 

These three acts were passed in such quick succession as to pro- 
duce the most inflammatory effects in America, where they were 
considered as forming a complete system of tyranny. " By the 
first," said the colonists, " the property of unoffending thousands 
is arbitrarily taken away ; by the second, our chartered liberties 
are annihilated ; and by the third, our lives may be destroyed 
with impunity." 

Shortly after this. General Gage arrived at Boston, and as- 
sumed the government. Having convened the Legislature at the 
capital, he addressed them in the usual form, and prorogued them 
to Salem. On the reopening of the court, in reply to his inaugu- 
ral speech, they reflected so severely on his two immediate prede- 
cessors, that he refused to hear the answer read through. The 
representatives, as usual, returned to their grievances, passed res- 
olutions advising the citizens of Boston to be firm and patient, 
and recommended their brethren of the other towns to assist the 
distressed people of the metropolis. They strongly urged an en- 
tire abstinence from the use of British goods, and of all articles 
subject to parliamentary duties. They also requested the gov- 
ernor to appoint a fast, and when he refused, ordered one them- 
selves. They then decided " that a meeting of commitees from the 
several colonies on this continent is highly expedient and necessary, 
to consult upon the present state of the country, and the miseries to 
which we are and must be reduced, by the operation of certain 
acts of Parliament ; and to deliberate and determine on wise and 
proper measures, to be recommended to all the colonies, for the 
recovery and re-establishment of our just rights and liberties, civil 
and religious, and the restoration of union and harmony between 
Great Britain and America, which is most ardently desired by all 
good men." The 1st of September was designated as the time 
of holding this Congress, and Philadelphia the place of meeting. 
The Speaker, and four others, where chosen delegates. A treas- 
urer was appointed, and the towns w^ere called upon to pay in 
their respective shares of the sum of .£500, voted to the delegates 
in payment of their expenses, to be assessed on the inhabitants 
according to the last appointment of local taxes. 

Hardly was this business completed, when Gage, informed of 
what was going on. sent the provincial secretary to dissolve the 
Court. Finding the doors shut, and being denied admittance, he 
read on the steps the governor's proclamation, and thus terminated 



306 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

the last session of the last Provincial General Court of Massachu- 
setts. 

The non-importation or consumption agreement recommended 
by it, had been adopted at a meeting in Boston, in the form of a 
*' solemn league and covenant," to commence on the first of 
October following. 

A committee, consisting of two members from each province, 
reported at this Congress, a " declaration of colonial rights," in 
which the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property were claimed. 
The privilege of being bound by no law to which they had not 
assented by their representatives, was asserted by them in their 
character of British subjects. The sole and exclusive power of 
legislation for the provinces, was declared to reside in their As- 
semblies, reserving to Parliament the enactment only of those 
laws that might be essential to the bona fide regulation of trade, 
but excluding all taxation, internal or external. The common 
law of England was insisted upon as the birthright of the people, 
including a trial by jury of the vicinage, the right of public meet- 
ings, and petition. A protest was also made against standing 
armies being maintained in the colonies without their consent ; 
and against legislation by Councils dependent on the Crown. 
All immunities hitherto enjoyed in the plantations, whether by 
charter or custom, were claimed as established rights, beyond the 
power of the mother country to abrogate. Eleven acts of Parlia- 
ment, passed since the accession of George III., the Sugar, the 
Stamp, and the two Quartering Acts, the Tea, the Quebec, that 
for suspending the New York Legislature, and the two Acts 
authorizing the trial in Great Britain of offenses committed in 
America, together with the Boston Port Bill, and the law for regu- 
lating the government of Massachusetts, were enumerated in 
conclusion, as having been passed in derogation of colonial jurisdic- 
tion. To enforce these claims, fourteen articles were agreed upon 
as the basis of an " American Association," pledging the subscrib- 
ers to an entire commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain, Ire- 
land, and the West Indies, and the non-consumption of tea and Brit- 
ish goods : the former to be extended to such provinces of North 
America as should decline to come into the association, and to 
last till the obnoxious acts of Parliament should be repealed. 
The latter clauses were to commence in December, but those pro- 
hibiting importation were postponed for nine months longer. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 307 

Governor Gage had issued writs for holding a General Assem- 
bly at Salem, but afterward judged it expedient further to pro- 
rogue the meeting. The legality of the measure was questioned ; 
and the new members, to the number of ninety, meeting accord- 
ing to the precept, and neither the governor nor any substitute 
attending, they resolved themselves into a provincial congress, and 
soon after adjourned to Concord. They there chose Mr. John 
Hancock president ; and appointed a committee to wait on the 
governor with a remonstrance, concluding with an earnest re- 
quest that he would desist from "the construction of the fortress, 
at the entrance into Boston, and restore that pass to its neutral 
state." The governor expressed himself indignantly at their 
supposition of danger from English troops, to any except enemies ; 
and warned them to desist from their illegal proceedings. With- 
out regarding his admonition, they adjourned to Cambridge, and, 
when reassembled, they appointed a committee to draw up a plan 
for the immediate defense of the province ; resolved to enlist a 
number of the inhabitants, to be in readiness to turn out at a 
minute's warning ; elected three general officers to command 
those minute-men and the militia, in case of their being called out 
to action ; and appointed a committee of safety and another of sup- 
plies. 

The same congress meeting again in November, resolved to 
raise twelve thousand men, to act on any emergency ; that a 
fourth part of the militia should be enlisted, as minute-men, and 
receive pay ; appointed two additional general officers, and sent 
persons to New Hampshire, Rhode Islamd, and Connecticut, to 
inform those colonies of its measures, and to request their co-ope- 
ration, in making up an army of twenty-thousand men.* A 
committee was appointed to correspond with the inhabitants of 
Canada, and a circular letter was addressed to the several minis- 
ters in the province, requesting their assistance in averting the 
threatened slavery. 

Toward the close of the year, a proclamation, that had been 
issued by the king, prohibiting the exportation of military stores 
from Great Britain, reached America. The people of Rhode 
Island no sooner received an account of it, than they removed 
from the public battery about forty pieces of cannon ; and the 
Assembly passed resolutions for obtaining arms and military 
* Holmes. 



308 THE ENGLISPl IN AMERICA. 

stores, and for raising and arming the inhabitants. In New 
Hampshire, four hundred men assailed his Majesty's castle, at 
Portsmouth, stormed it, and confined the garrison until they had 
broken open the magazine, and taken away the powder.* 

The British Government did not relax its coercive measures 
relative to the colonies. The king, in his speech to Parliament, 
toward the close of the preceding year (30th November), had stated, 
•' that a most daring spirit of resistance and disobedience to the 
laws unhappily prevailed in the province of Massachusetts, and 
had broken forth in fresh violence of a very criminal nature ; that 
these proceedings had been countenanced and encouraged in his 
other colonies, and unwarrantable attempts made to obstruct the 
commerce of his kingdom, by unlawful combination ; and that 
he had taken such measures, and given such orders, as he judged 
most proper and effectual for carrying into execution the laws 
which were passed in the last session of the late Parliament, rel- 
ative to the province of Massachusetts." An address, proposed 
in the House of Commons, in answer to his speech, and echoing 
it, produced a warm debate, but it was carried by a large majority. 
A similar address was carried, after a spirited debate, in the 
Upper House, but nine Lords entered a protest against it. 

When the dispatches and papers relative to the colonies, were 
laid upon the table, a joint address from the Lords and Commons, 
was presented to his Majesty, in which they returned thanks for 
the communication of the official documents; gave it as their 
opinion, that a rebellion actually existed in the province of Mas- 
sachusetts Bay ; besought his Majesty to take the most effectual 
measures to enforce due obedience to the laws and authority of 
the supreme legislature : and in the most solemn manner assured 
him, that it was their fixed resolution, at the hazard of their 
lives and property, to stand by his Majesty against all rebellious 
attempts, in the maintenance of the just rights of the Crown, 
and the two Houses of Parliament. The next day. Lord North 
moved for leave to bring in a bill to restrain the trade and com- 
merce of the provinces of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, and Connecticut, to Great Britain, Ireland, and the Brit- 
ish Islands in the West Indies; and to prohibit those colonies 
from carrying on any fishery on the banks of Newfoundland, and 
any other places to be mentioned in the bill, under certain condi- 

* Holmes. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 309 

tions, and for a limited time. After much opposition, in both 
Houses, the bill was carried by a large majority.^ 

While this bill was depending, Lord North suddenly moved 
what he termed a conciliatory proposition, the purport of which 
was that Parliament would Ibrbear to tax any province, which 
should engage to contribute its proportion to the support of the 
civil government, and the administration of justice in such colony. 
This proposition, which at an earlier period of the dispute, would 
have been accepted as a great boon, had now no beneficial effect 
whatever, and was construed into an attempt to divide the Pro- 
vincials. 

Soon after Parliament had passed the bill for restraining the 
trade of New England, intelligence was received that the inhab- 
itants of the middle and southern colonies were supporting their 
northern brethren in every measure of opposition, which occasion- 
ed a second bill to be brought in and passed, imposing similar re- 
strictions on the colonies of East and West Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, Virginia, South Carohna, and the counties on the 
Delaware. The three excepted colonies declined the favor, and 
submitted to the restraints imposed upon their neighbors. Tarring 
and feathering, and other acts of personal outrage, became now 
so common in Massachusetts, that all suspected partisans of the 
mother country were obliged to seek refuge with the troops. 

A considerable quantity of military stores having been deposit- 
ed at Concord, an inland town, about eighteen miles from Bos- 
ton, General Gage proposed to destroy them. For the execution 
of this de&ign, he, on the night preceding the 19th of April, de- 
tached Lieutenant-colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, with eight 
hundred grenadiers and light infantry, who, at eleven o'clock, 
embarked in boats at the bottom of the Common in Boston, cross- 
ed the Pwiver Charles, and landing at Phipps' farm, in Cambridge, 
commenced a silent and expeditious march for Concord. On the 
arrival of the British troops at Lexington, toward five in the 
morning, about seventy men, belonging to the minute company 
of that town, were found on the parade under arms, with whom 
a conflict arose, that ended in the death of eight Americans. 
The British detachment then proceeded to Concord, where they 
disabled two twenty-four-pounders, threw five hundred pound.- of 
ball into the river and wells, and broke in pieces about sixty k. > 

'» Holmes. 



310 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

rels of flour. All the people of the adjacent country, were by 
this time in arms, and attacked the retreating troops in every di- 
rection. Some fired from behind stone walls and other coverts ; 
others pressed on their rear ; and thus harassed, they made good 
their retreat six miles back to Lexington. Here they were found 
by Lord Percy, who, most opportunely for them, had arrived with 
a detachment of nine hundred men, and two pieces of cannon. 
The close firing from behind stone walls, by good marksmen, put 
them into no small confusion ; but they kept up a brisk retreating 
fire on the militia and minute men. A little after sunset, the 
regulars reached Bunker's Hill, and the next morning marched 
into Boston. 

The battle of Lexington, as this skirmish was called, was a 
signal of war. The forts, magazines, and arsenals throughout 
the colonies, were instantly secured for the use of the Provincials. 
Regular forces were raised, and money was issued for their sup- 
port. An army of twenty thousand men appeared in the en- 
virons of Boston, and formed a line of encampment from Roxbury 
to the River Mystic. The army was soon increased by a large 
body of troops from Connecticut, under Colonel Putnam, an old 
and experienced officer ; and by these collective forces, the king's 
troops were closely blocked up in the peninsula of Boston. This 
was the commencement of the Revolutionary struggle. The 
battle of Breed's, or, as it is commonly called, Bunker's Hill, 
followed on the 15th of June, 1775 ; and on the second of July, 
Washington, who had been unanimously chosen by the Conti- 
nental Congress, Commander-in-chief of the colonial army, arrived 
at the camp at Cambridge, and entered upon the arduous and 
difficult duties of his high and responsible office. Of the events 
of the Avar I shall not attempt to give any account, as they are 
wholly unconnected with the object of this work, and are all 
either well known or fully recorded in numerous contemporaneous 
histories both English and American. Its results are soon told. 
On the 30th of November, 1783, provisional articles of peace, 
between Great Britain and the United States, were agreed to be 
inserted formally into a treaty, by which the independence of the 
latter was acknowledged in its fullest extent. 

Thus were thirteen extensive and valuable colonies severed 
from Great Britain at one time. On their part, they owed their 
origin to dissent and disaflection, and their independence to rebel- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 311 

ion. On the part of England, they were suffered to grow up to 
maturity in neglect. As soon as they became opulent, she re- 
solved to tax thern without their consent, and in the contest that 
ensued, showed that the injustice of the measure was only equal- 
ed by the imbecility with which it was attempted to be enforced.* 
The annals of civilized countries maybe searched in vain for such 
a series of " Rule and Misrule," as that exhibited by Great 
Britain in her conduct toward her American provinces. 

* Although the contest was a very unequal one, the disparity was not so great 
as appears at first sight. De Pradt, in his work entitled "The Colonies," has 
some very judicious remarks on this subject. See chap. xiii. p. 217, Lond. Ed. 
"Three millions." he says, "of Americans felt themselves strong enough to re- 
sist, with their whole mass, the detachments which England coald send against 
them. England could put a fraction of her population — a very particle — in mo- 
tion. America could defend herself with all hers. She had, therefore, no need 
to be equal to England in population, but only in that part of that population 
which was disposable against her ; these never amounted to more than ten or 
twenty thousand English that could proceed to attack her; and, on her side, it 
was with the whole of her population that she was enabled to repel the attack. 
The former were under the necessity of making a long voyage, under all the 
disadvantages of maritime expeditions; the American population was at hand 
in the country. The parent state could not displace herself, in a body, as a na- 
tion ; a nation, on the contrary, can defend herself, with the advantage of the 
presence of all its members on the theatre of war. The issue of the contest 
could not be doubtful, and never will be doubtful against proportion so very dif- 
ferent. In all this there is but one thing that astonishes us, and that is, that a 
people so enlightened as the English ever engaged in such a contest." 



CHAPTER YL 

Reasons for confining Political Sketch solely to Canada — Proclamation for Es- 
tablishing the Government at Cluebec and Inviting Emigration— An express 
Promise given that the Lavi^s of England should be introduced — First great 
Error vvras ordering a Code of Laws to be compiled for the French, restoring 
the old tenure of tlieir Estates — Quebec Act — Character of Loyalists — Consti- 
tution Act 31 George III., c. 31, divides Canada into two Provinces — Form 
of Government — The above-named Acts of Parliament the Cause of all the 
Canadian Troubles — Mistake in allowing French to be the recording Language, 
and in giving Constitutional Government before People were ready to receive 
it — First House of Assembly — Proportion of English and French Members — 
Gradual Change in Character of Delegates — Impeachment of Judges — Re- 
peated Reference to Parliament— Lord Aylmer entreats the Assembly to 
bring forward all their Grievances at once — Commission of Inquiry — Stoppage 
of Supplies — Distress of Public Officers — Rebellion — Thome's Conduct — Ar- 
rival of Lord Durham — Review — Responsible Government — Enumeration of 
the Defects of the System — Remedies suggested. 

At the conclusion of the War of Independence, there remained 
in possession of Great Britain but two provinces, Canada and 
Nova Scotia. The latter has subsequently been divided into 
two governments — one retaining its ancient name, and the other 
called New Brunswick. These two last I shall pass over alto- 
gether. In point of territory they are severally very extensive ; 
but their population is still small, although it possesses the great 
advantage of being homogeneous, w^ell affected, and easily govern- 
ed. A sketch of their political history would therefore be devoid 
of general interest in Europe. My remarks will be* exclusively 
applied to Canada ; so much so, that although there is a striking 
similarity in the constitution of all, I shall not even notice those 
particulars in which they differ or agree, or allude to them in any 
way whatever. That which may be made to work satisfactorily 
in a small colony, like Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, is as ob- 
viously inapplicable to a vast country like Canada, peopled by 
two irreconcilable races, as that of Great Britain, with its House 
of Peers, system of entail, and intrinsic connection of Church and 

* The first part of tliis chapter has been abridged from more extended works 
of the author on colonial matters and from provincial histories. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 313 

State, would be to an American province. It does not follow 
therefore, that, where defects are pointed out in the structure of 
the Canadian Government, that they exist elsewhere under the 
same institutions ; for the character of the people, and their in- 
telligence may be so different, that what is too democratic in one, 
may be too aristocratical or restrictive in the other. There, they 
may be so glaring as to require a remedy. Here, they may not 
be apparent, or if perceptible, not inconvenient. While at the 
same time, if their pressure is felt, modification only may be nec- 
essary, and not an organic change. 

For this reason, I wish to guard myself from making sweeping 
assertions ; which, for the causes I have assigned, can not be in 
all cases accurate, inasmuch as they could not always stand the 
test of universal application. I shall not therefore enter into any 
comparisons or digressions whatever, but limit my observations to 
the " Empire Colony" of Canada, the political changes of which 
I shall endeavor very briefly to sketch. 

By the Treaty of Peace, in the year 1763, Canada was ceded in 
full sovereignty and right to his Britannic Majesty ; and the French 
inhabitants, who chose to remain in the country, were secured in the 
enjoyment of their property and possessions, and the free exercise 
of their religion. In the month of October following, his Majesty 
published a proclamation for erecting the Government of Quebec, 
and exhorted his subjects, as well of Great Britain and Ireland, 
as also of his Colonies in America, to avail themselves of the 
benefits and advantages that would accrue from this great and 
valuable acquisition to their commerce, manufactures, and navi- 
gation. As an encouragement to them to do so, he informed them 
that in the commission he had forwarded to the Civil Governor, 
he had given him express power and directions to summon, so 
soon as circumstances would admit, a General Assembly, in such 
manner as was used in those colonies in America, which were 
under his Majesty's immediate government ; and until a Legisla- 
ture could be organized, all persons resorting there might confide 
in the royal protection, for the enjoyment of the benefit of the 
luivs of his reahn of England ; that for that purpose, he had 
given power under the Great Seal to the governor, to erect and 
constitute Courts of Judicature, for the hearing and determining 
of all causes, as well criminal as civil, as near as might be, agree- 
ably to tJie laws of England ; and with liberty to all persons to 

O 



3M THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

appeal, under the usual limitations and restrictions, to his Majesty 
ill his Privy Council. 

It appears, therefore, both from the proclamation and commis- 
sion, that the Ministry were evidently of opinion that, hy the re- 
fusal of General Amherst, to grant to the Canadians the continu- 
ance of their ancient laws and usages, and by the reference made 
in the fourth article of the definitive treaty of peace, to those 
of Great Britain, as the measure of indulgence intended to be 
shown them with respect to the exercise of their religion, suffi- 
cient notice had been given them that they would be governed for 
the future according to the laivs of England. It is evident also, 
that the inhabitants, after being thus apprised of his Majesty's 
intention, had testified their consent by continuing to reside in 
the country, and by taking the oath of allegiance, when they 
might have withdrawn themselves, with all their effects, within 
eighteen months, allowed by the treaty of peace for that object. 
In consequence of the introduction of the laivs of England into 
the province, the governor, in an ordinance, dated the 17th day 
of September, 1764, directed the Chief Justice and other judges 
of the province to determine all criminal and civil causes, agree- 
ably to them, with this just and prudent proviso, that the French 
laws and customs should be allowed and admitted in all causes 
in said court, between the natives of the province, in which the 
cause of action arose before the first day of October, 1764. 

In consequence of these instruments of government, the laivs 
of Engla?id were generally adopted. At this time the popula- 
tion of Canada amounted to 65,000 souls, and was chiefly con- 
fined to the banks of the St. Lawrence and its tributary streams. 
As the people had now become British subjects, it was deemed 
expedient to introduce, as soon as possible, emigrants of English 
extraction, as well for the purpose of creating a defensive power 
within the province, as to induce the French to acquire the lan- 
guage and adopt the habits of their conquerors. The officers and 
soldiers of the army, that had served in America during the inter-colo- 
nial wars, were rewarded with grants of land in the country ; and 
liberal offers were made to the people in the other colonies, and to 
emigrants from Europe, to remove thither. The facilities of in- 
ternal transport, the fertility of the soil, and salubrity of the cli- 
mate, operated so powerfully, that, in a short time, the influx of 
strangers was so great as to induce the hope that it would speedily 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 315 

rival the New England states in population and wealth ; and no 
doubt can now be entertained that, if the terms of the proclama- 
tion had been honestly adhered to, these expectations would have 
been fully realized. 

As a matter of policy, nothing could have been more wise 
than, since it had now become a British colony, to endeavor, as 
soon as possible, to make it so in fact, as well as in name. The 
first fatal error that was committed was ordering a code of laws 
to be prepared, with such modifications as would secure to the 
French the system of tenure and inheritance to which they had 
been accustomed. This occasioned much delay, and enabled their 
leaders to represent that any change would alienate the affections 
of the inhabitants, who would naturally extend to the government 
the dislike they felt to its institutions. Unfortunately, while this 
was under consideration, the time had arrived when they could 
enforce the demands with a threat, and the rebellion, which after- 
ward broke out in the English provinces (now constituting the 
United States), made their conciliation a matter of state policy. 
It was, therefore, determined at once to restore the French laws 
as they existed at the conquest ; and the celebrated Quebec Act, 
14 Geo. III., c. 83, was passed for this purpose. The statute 
enacted, " that his Majesty's subjects, professing the religion of 
Rome, may enjoy the free exercise of it, and that its clergy may 
hold and receive their accustomed dues and rights ;" and then em- 
powered " his Majesty, his heirs or successors, to make provision 
for the support of the Protestant clergy within the said province." 
But by far the most important clause was one, which after re- 
citing that the English laws, that had prevailed there for ten 
years, administered and regulated under conmiissions to governors, 
had been found inapplicable to the state and circumstances of the 
country, enacted that from and after the 1st of May, 1775, the 
said English laws and practice of courts should be annulled. 
This flagrant violation of the promises held out in the proclama- 
tion, and of the terms upon which the people of British origin had 
settled there, filled them with dismay. They felt that they had 
the wretched choice presented to them of abandoning their prop- 
erty, or of remaining in a miserable minority, to be ruled and 
governed by foreigners, whose favor could only be conciliated by 
their forgetting their country, their language, and their rehgion 
as soon as possible, and becoming Frenchmen. 



316 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

They accordingly lost no time in forwarding petitions, in which 
they were joined by the merchants of London interested in the 
North American trade, to the king and the two Houses of Parlia- 
ment, expressive of their sense of the injury they had sustained, 
and the misery likely to be entailed by this statute ujjon the 
province. No repeal, however, was effected, and the act remained 
as it was passed. But the English found that their opponents 
were first in the field, whereby they were put on the defensive ; 
so that instead of seeking what was dne to themselves, they were 
compelled to expostulate, that too great a share had been given 
to their rivals. The advantage the French gained by this posi- 
tion they have constantly maintained, and it is a singular fact, 
that while the English have been the 07ily aggrieved party in 
the country, the former have forestalled the attention of the public, 
and engrossed the whole of its sympathy. After the peace of 
1783 the Loyalists withdrew from the United States, and the 
greater part of them removed into Canada, sacrificing their happy 
homes, and the comfortable estates, which they had previously 
acquired and enjoyed in the revolted colonies, and preferring the 
inhospitable wilds of the trackless forest, to yielding up their 
fidelity to their king. They consisted chiefly of the middle and 
upper classes in their own country, and were an intelligent, active 
and valuable body of men. No portion of the British possessions 
ever received such a noble acquisition.** 

The experiment of settling America with republicans, and 
taxing them without their consent, had been tried and failed. 
A fairer prospect now opened to England than ever fell to the lot 
of any European nation, for successful colonization. With an 
experience of nearly two centuries in the art of planting and gov- 
erning, with an immense territory, intersected with noble rivers 
and lakes, abounding in mineral wealth, and a fishery superior 
to any thing in the known world, an intelhgent and devoted 

* "I could adduce instances of conduct in loyalists that would do honor to 
human nature ; but there is one which I can not pass over, because it shows 
with what firmness men will act, when they are conscious that they have taken 
the right side of a question. A fort was reduced by the Americans on the 
River Savannah, and such of the loyal militia as were in garrison there, had 
the alternative offered them of enlisting with the Americans, or being put to 
death. Among the loyalists was a young man who desired a few minutes to 
consider the proposal, and after a short pause he resolutely answered, 'that he 
preferred death to disgrace,' on which account he was immediately cut down." 
— Stokes on the British Colonies in North America, p. 43. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 317 

population, and millions of acres of fertile land to reward and 
incite industry : she possessed all the elements for laying the 
foundation of a great and prosperous empire. Has she succeed- 
ed ? If not, where does the fault lie ? Is it in the people, or in 
the government ? If it be in the people, what has caused the 
change ? If in the government, why has not a remedy been 
applied for the disease? The loyahsts from ihe United States 
united with those of their countrymen who had previously settled 
there, in demanding a modification of the Quebec Act, and the 
establishment of a local legislature. The petition of these people 
gave rise to the act of the 31st Geo. III., c. 31, commonly called 
the Constitution Act, to which two laws is to be attributed all the 
trouble experienced in governing Canada. In the fatal con- 
cessions to the French, contained in these acts, is to be found the 
origin of that anti-British feeling which increased with every 
exercise of those powers, until it assumed the shape of concen- 
trated hatred and open rebellion. By this latter act, Canada 
was divided into two provinces, respectively called Upper and 
Lower Canada. To this latter country this celebrated law gave 
a Constitution, consisting of a Governor and Executive Council of 
eleven members, appointed by the Crown ; a Legislative Council, 
forming the second estate, appointed in like manner, consisting of 
fifteen members (but subsequently increased to forty), and a 
representative Assembly or House of Commons, composed of fifty 
members (afterw^ard increased to eighty-eight), each having 
powers as nearly analogous to those of King, Lords, and Com- 
mons respectively, as the varied circumstances of the two coun- 
tries and the dependence of the colony would admit of. The 
enacting power thus bestowed upon the colony, introduced from 
year to year another set of statutes, in addition to what they were 
subject to already, so that they soon had a union of French, 
English, and provincial law. 

It is very difficult to conceive how the statesmen who sanc- 
tioned the substitution of this extraordinary code for that of En- 
gland, could have imagined that it should ever be productive of 
any thing but discord in a country inhabited by two races, difTer- 
ing as widely in origin as in language and religion. Any person 
at all acquainted with the prejudices and passions that operate on 
man will easily understand that the French, jealous of any inno- 
vation, were constantly suspicious of an intention to infringe upon 



818 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

their rights and introduce a system of jurisprudence with which 
they were unacquainted ; and on the other hand, that the Enghsh, 
naturally an enterprising and commercial people, found the feudal 
tenure an intolerable burden, and spurned with indignation the 
idea of being subject to the government of a race whom they had 
conquered, and to the operation of laws, which even the very 
nation with whom they originated had rejected, as unsuited to 
the exigencies of the times. In addition to the grievous error of 
establishing a code of laws that existed nowhere else, three others 
were committed of nearly equal magnitude : first, in dividing 
Canada into two provinces, and thus separating the French from 
the English majority ; secondly, in permitting the language of the 
courts and the records of the Parliament to be French ; and 
thirdly, in giving, at such an early period, and before the people 
were fitted to receive it, a constitutional government. Not con- 
tent with these acts of folly and injustice, the French were in- 
trusted with an almost exclusive possession of the popular branch 
of the Legislature, and were even constituted at the same time 
toll-keepers to the adjoining province. Both the ports of Quebec 
and Montreal were assigned to the French, and the inhabitants 
of Upper Canada were thus cut off' from all communication with 
the mother country, but such as might be granted by the Ameri- 
cans or their Galhc neighbors. The experiment of constitutional 
government was never tried by a people less qualified for the task 
than the French Canadians. They were, without doubt, the 
most ignorant inhabitants of any portion of America. But few 
of them could read or write. They were even unacquainted with 
the common operations of husbandry, preferring the listless idle- 
ness engendered by a fertile soil, that yielded its productions with- 
out the aid of art, to the laborious occupations of the enterprising 
Ano-lo-Saxons. Accustomed to implicit obedience, they saved 
themselves the trouble of thinking, and yielded their judgment to 
their leaders, and their conscience to their priests. Yet to such a 
people was intrusted the power not only of making laws, but of 
governing the English. The experience of all ages was against 
the experiment. " How can he get wisdom that holdeth the 
plow and that glorieth in the goad ; that driveth oxen, and is 
occupied in their labor ; whose talk is of bullocks ?" " They 
shall not be sought for in public counsels nor sit high in the 
congregation ; they shall not sit in the judge's seat, nor under- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 319 

Stand the sentence of judgment ; they can not declare justice and 
judgment, and they shall not be found where parables are 
spoken."* The first Assembly met on the 17th of December, 
] 792 ; and as the representation had been most injudiciously 
based on the principle of population, thirty-five out of the fifty 
members of the House were French, and only fifteen English, a 
minority too large and respectable to be suflered to continue 
longer than to teach the majority the forms of business ; and we 
accordingly find that, at a subsequent period, it was reduced to 
three. 

The change from absolute to constitutional government was so 
great, that the French were for some time trammeled by parlia- 
mentary forms, with which they were wholly unacquainted, and 
were not at first aware of the unlimited means of annoyance, if 
not of control, with which they were invested ; and therefore we 
find them for some time proceeding with decorum and moderation. 
But there were not wanting those in the colony who were filled 
with alarm at the sight of the first Canadian Assembly, which, 
even with the largest minority ever known, contained a majority 
of more than twice as many Frenchmen as EngHshmen, and pos- 
sessed the power of increasing that majority at its pleasure. 
Even those whose faith in the operation of British institutions had 
led them to hold a different opinion as to the result, were com- 
pelled to acknowledge their error, when they found the House 
proceeding to choose a Speaker, who admitted his inability to ex- 
press himself in English, and recording their acts in their own 
language. They perceived with grief that the natural tendency 
of these things was to give a complete ascendency to people of 
foreign origin in the popular branch of the Legislature, and to 
encourage in the leaders at a future day that exclusive ambition 
that so soon distinguished them. They could not fail also to 
draw an unfavorable contrast between this extraordinary conces- 
sion, and the more provident conduct of the American Congress, 
which, while admitting the territory of Louisiana, inhabited by 
Frenchmen, as one of the States of the Confederation, enacted 
that all minutes of proceedings in the Courts and Legislature of 
their sister State, should be exclusively recorded in the language 
of the constituency of the United States. 

The leaders soon began to affect to perceive a latent danger 

* Eccl. xxxviii. 24, &c. 



320 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

in every act of the government ; and a bill, requiringf rectors, 
curates, and priests, to read certain lavi^s after divine service, was 
denounced as opening a door for exercising an influence over the 
clergy, and an effort was made to introduce in their stead the 
captains of militia, which was only relinquished to avoid the 
awkward admission, that too many of those officers were deficient 
in the necessary qualification to perform that duty. Having felt 
their way cautiously for a time, they commenced a system of 
high-handed measures with every person who obstructed their 
views, and followed it up, by removing from the House all persons 
attached to the Executive, and impeaching others holding high 
official stations, in the hope that, by representing the adherents 
of government as enemies to the country, the affections of the 
people would be gradually alienated from their rulers, and 
ultimately prepare them to join in those measures of forcible re- 
sistance, which now for the first time appear to have been con- 
templated. To bring the local government into contempt, it was 
necessary to impugn the integrity of the bench, and the impartial 
administration of the law, and they therefore impeached the 
judges. When the governor, whose liberal patronage had hitherto 
shielded him from attack, declined to suspend these functionaries, 
till the result of their complaint should be known, and refused to 
make their punishment precede their trial, they resolved " that 
his Excellency, the Governor-in-chief, by his answer to the ad- 
dress of the House, has violated the constitutional right and 
privileges thereof" 

To personal persecution succeeded financial disputes, which ex- 
tended over the whole period of the administrations of the Duke 
of Richmond, Lord Dalhousie, and Sir James Kempt, with more 
or less intensity, according to the supply of fresh fuel furnished by 
irritating matter of extraneous nature. Complaints soon multi- 
plied upon complaints ; public meetings were held ; violent 
speeches made ; valiant resolutions passed ; and finally delegates 
chosen to demand a redress of grievances from the Imperial Par- 
liament. When these persons arrived in London, they found 
public opinion with them. It is the interest as well as the duty 
of the English to govern their colonies kindly and justly, and no 
man but a Frenchman would affirm that their inclination requires 
the incitement of either. 

The Parliamentary Committee to whom their complaint was 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 321 

preferred was composed of persons by no means indisposed toward 
the petitioners, who, after a patient and laborious investigation of 
the subjects in dispute, made a report, which was acknowledged 
by the Assembly to be both an able and an impartial one, and 
quite satisfactoiy. It will be unnecessary to recapitulate the 
subjects referred to, or to transcribe the report, as both go too 
much into detail, but nothing can exhibit the kindness and liber- 
ality of Parliament more than the latter. The manner in which 
the report was received by the dominant party in Canada, the 
praise bestowed upon its authors, and the exultation they express- 
ed at their success, deceived the government as to the source of 
these noisy demonstrations of pleasure. They conceived it to be 
the natural impulse of generous minds toward those who had thus 
kindly listened to their solicitations, and liberally granted even 
more than they required. But they knew not their men. It 
was the shout of victory that they mistook for the plaudits of 
loyalty. It was not designed to greet the ears of benefactors 
with grateful acknowledgments, but to M^ound the feelings of their 
neighbors with the cheers of triumph. They devoted but little 
time to mutual congratulations. Sterner feelings had supplied 
the place of rejoicing. They set themselves busily at work to 
improve their advantage ; and having established themselves in 
the outworks which were thus surrendered to them, they now 
turned their attention to storming the citadel. While government 
was engaged in carrying into execution the recommendations of 
the committee, with as much dispatch as the peculiar state of 
politics in Great Britain at that time permitted, the Assembly 
put themselves in a posture of complaint again. Fourteen reso- 
lutions were passed, embodying some of the old, and embracing 
some new grievances, and an agent appointed to advocate their 
claims. 

While representations in the name of the whole population 
were thus sent to England, expressing only the sentiments of 
one portion of the people, the settlers of British origin were loud 
in their complaints that they were unrepresented, and that they 
had no constitutional means of being heard. But their remon- 
strances were disregarded, and the Assembly occupied itself with 
the consideration of their own grievances. That the motives ac- 
tuating the dominant party might not be disclosed, and to pre- 
vent any member of the opposition from being present at their 



322 THE ENGLISH IX AMERICA. 

deliberationSj they adopted the extraordinary mode of permittini? 
a person moving for a committee to name all the individuals 
whom he desired to be appointed as members. 

When the fourteen resolutions above referred to were passed, 
the governor, Lord Aylmer, who had recently arrived, could not 
but feel astonished that the same people who had so lately ex- 
pressed their delight and satisfaction at the report of the proceed- 
ings of Parliament, and who knew that the recommendations of 
the committee were in a train of execution, should again be as 
clamorous as ever ; and very prudently and properly entreated 
them to put an end to complaints, by bringing forward at once 
every grievance they had, that it might be met and redressed at 
the same time. The earnest manner in which this was pressed 
upon them, is worthy of notice. " Am I to understand," he 
said, " that the petition which I have heard, conveys all that 
the House of Assembly have to complain of up to this day ? Or 
am I to understand that there is something behind — some un- 
ripe grievance or complaint, which it may be intended to bring 
forward hereafter, when those now produced shall have been dis- 
posed of? This is the information I ask of you. This, gentle- 
men is the information which I will even implore you to afford 
me, in the name of the king our sovereign, who is sincerity it- 
self; and in the name of the brave and honest people of Canada, 
who are so well entitled to expect fair dealing in every quarter ; 
and now if there be any stray complaint, any grievance, how- 
ever inconsiderable in itself, which may have been overlooked 
when this petition was adopted by the House, I beseech you, 
gentlemen, to take it back again, in order that the deficiency 
may be supplied ; and that thus both king and people may be 
enabled, at one view, to see the whole extent of what you com- 
plain of, and what you require." 

The time had now arrived, (183,2), when every grievance, so 
far as the remedy lay with government, had been removed, ac- 
cording to the recommendation of the committee. Whatever 
required the co operation of the Assembly themselves remained 
untouched. They had asked what they did not require, and 
hoped would not be granted, so that the odium of refusal might 
serve as a pretext for further agitation. Several of the changes 
solicited would have weakened their influence; and they preferred 
to suffer things to remain as they were. There now existed no 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 323 

impediment to the public tranquillity ; and if their intentions had 
been honest, we should have heard no more of Canadian discon- 
tent. Several men of character and standing in the colony, who 
had hitherto acted with the French faction, now separated them- 
selves from them, declaring that they had obtained all, and even 
more than they had sought ; and that they had now nothing 
further to ask, but to enjoy in tranquillity the fruits of their labor. 
When they found there was no corresponding feehng in the 
breasts of their colleagues, and that these concessions were mere- 
ly used as the groundwork of further changes, they became 
alarmed, and for the first time were made sensible of what the 
public had always known with unfeigned sorrow, that they had 
all along been the dupes of their own liberal notions, and the 
artifices of others. But what was the astonishment of Lord 
Aylmer, after their declining the unprecedented request to 
exhibit any further complaint, if they had any, to find that 
in 1834 they were prepared to come forward with ninety-two 
resolutions of fresh grievances I This extraordinary step revived 
the hopes of every loyalist throughout the colonies. Surely, 
they said, this last ungrateful, unprovoked attempt, will open 
the eyes of the English nation to the ulterior views of the 
French. 

This singular document is well worthy of perusal. The 
astonishing number of ninety-two resolutions was well calculated 
to delude strangers, and to induce them to think that the evils 
under which they labored were almost too many for enumeration. 
But it must not be supposed, that even Canadian exaggeration 
could find a grievance for each number. Some were simply de- 
clamatory, and others personal. Some complimented persons on 
the other side of the water, whose politics they thought resembled 
their own, and others expressed or implied a censure against 
those who were obnoxious to them, while not a few were mere 
repetitions of what had been previously said. Such a state 
paper, drawn up on such an occasion, by the most eminent men 
in the House for the perusal of the members of the Imperial Par- 
liament, is of itself a proof how little fitted the Canadians were 
for constitutional government. 

These resolutions, and the memorial accompanying them, 
were referred to a committee composed hke the last, chiefly of 
liberal members, and containing several whose opinions were 



Z24 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

well known to be favorable to their cause, but after a careful 
hearing of all the delegates could say, the committee reported as 
follows : 

" That the most earnest anxiety had existed on the part of 
the Home Government to carry into effect the suggestions of the 
committee of 1838 ; and that the endeavors of the government 
to that end had been unremitting, and guided by a desire, in all 
cases, to promote the interest of the colony ; and that in several 
important particulars their endeavors had been completely suc- 
cessful." 

Shortly afterward the whole of the proceedings of the govern- 
ment since the year 1828 were detailed in a very lucid and able 
statement of Lord Aberdeen, in which he claims for himself and 
his colleagues the credit of a full and faithful compliance with 
the recommendations of the Canada committee, as far as the 
powers of the executive permitted them to do so. To this able 
state paper the reader is referred, if he desires to pursue the sub- 
ject into detail. 

The perusal of this important document naturally suggests two 
reflections ; first, that the faithful execution of the recommendations 
of the committee is much more entitled to our approbation than 
the report itself; secondly, that nothing short of independence 
would have satisfied the Canadian Assembly. 

As the memorials addressed to government by the English and 
French parties, were at variance in every material point, a com- 
mission of inquiry, of which Lord Gosford, the governor, was 
head, was sent out to Canada in 1835. Whether the commis- 
sion was necessary or not, it is not needful for me to say, but it is 
illustrative of the earnest desire that existed to compose these un- 
fortunate difficulties, and ascertain on the spot, how much of con- 
cession could be made consistently with retaining the sovereignty 
of the country. The commissioners were told : " You will ever 
bear in mind that you are sent on a mission of peace and concili- 
ation. You will, therefore, proceed in a spirit not of distrust but 
of confidence ; remembering that much of your success will de- 
pend, not only on the ability and fairness of your inquiries, but 
also on your perfect separation from all local and party disputes, 
and on the unquestionable frankness and impartiality of your gen- 
eral conduct." 

The governor was told by Lord Glenelg, "your lordship, 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 325 

therefore, proceeds to Canada to advocate no British interest and 
to secure no selfish ends. To maintain the peace and integrity 
of the empire, and to mediate between contending parlies, by 
whom these blessings have been endangered, is the high and 
honorable trust confided to you." 

The arrival of this Board put an end to all further prospect of 
grievance, and at once damped the hopes and awakened the anger 
of the disafiected. The very act of investigating the complaints 
which they themselves had preferred was made a subject of in- 
vective, and the commission was denounced as an insult to the 
Assembly, whose voice alone should be heard, and whose decision 
admitted not of question by the Government or the Council. 
Knowing that the instructions given to the commissioners were 
of a most conciliatory nature, that every change that they had 
desired would be effected, and that, by their own showing, they 
would be compelled to be tranquil, they promptly changed their 
ground, abandoned their untenable local topics, and boldly attack- 
ed the Constitution. 

The mask was now thrown off, and republicanism openly 
avowed as their object. That this development was premature- 
ly hastened by the unexpected and immediate concession of their 
requests, and their object disclosed sooner than they expected, is 
evident. " The people of this country are now preparing them- 
selves for a future state of political existence," said Mr. Papineau, 
" which, he trusted, would be neither a monarchy nor an aris- 
tocracy. He hoped Providence had not in view for his country a 
future so dark as that it should be the means of planting royalty 
in America, near a country so grand as the United States. He 
hoped, for the future, America would give republics to Europe." 
" Let them consider," says another of their party, " these words 
of a great writer, and they will no longer treat a revolution and 
a separation as a chimera. The greatest misfortune for man, 
politically," says he, "is to obey a foreign power ; no humiliation, 
no torment of the heart is equal to this. The subjected nation, 
at least, if she be not protected by some extraordinary law, ought 
not to obey their sovereign ! We repeat it, an immediate separ- 
ation from England is the only means of preserving our national- 
ity. Some time hence, when emigration shall have made our 
enemies our equals in number, more daring and less generous, they 
will deprive us of our liberties, and we shall have the same fate 



326 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

as our countrymen, the Acadians. Believe me, this is the fate 
reserved for us, if we do not make ourselves independent." Al- 
though they considered every institution and usage of their own 
so sacred as to admit of no change, they viewed those of the 
EngHsh in a very different light. The conceding and respectful 
conduct of government formed an amusing contrast with their 
audacious insolence. To mark their contempt for legal rights, 
they passed an act to make notice of action; served on the Attor- 
ney-general, for damages against the Crown, legal and binding. 
If the suit went against the Crown, it was provided that execu- 
tion might issue against the governor and his furniture, or the 
guns of the fortress. 

Things were now rapidly drawing to a crisis. The Legisla- 
ture was assembled by the new governor, and addressed by him 
in a long and conciliatory speech, in which the evils of internal 
dissensions were pointedly and feelingly alluded to, and concessions 
made, sufficiently numerous to have gratified the vanity and 
appeased the irritation of any other people than those to whom it 
was addressed. 

They were then called upon, in the usual manner, to provide 
for the support of the judges and officers of government, the public 
chest containing at the time .£130,000 sterling. 

The House had no sooner retired from hearing this address, 
than their Speaker adopted his usual mode of inflaming his party 
by the most violent invectives against all the authorities, both at 
home and in the colony, charging the one with deceit and hypoc- 
risy in their words, and the other with oppression and peculation 
in their deeds. In a short time he brought matters to the con- 
clusion he had so long desired. 

The House voted an address to his Majesty, in which they an- 
nounced that they had determined to refuse any future provision 
for the wants of the local administration, in order the better to 
insist upon the changes which they required from the imperial 
authorities. Their utmost concession (and they desired it might 
not be taken for a precedent) was to offer a supply for six months, 
that time being allowed to his Majesty's Government and the 
British Parliament to decide upon the fundamental alterations of 
the Constitution and other important measures included in the 
demands of the Assembly. 

In this bill of supply, which was for six months only, and mere- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 327 

ly passed for the purpose of throwing the odium of rejection on 
the other branch of the Legislature, they excluded the salaries 
of the councilors ; of their assistant clerk, one of the judges, some 
usual incidental charges of the civil secretary's office, besides 
other important salaries ; and, as they hoped, it was not concurred 
in. This was the first time they had left their executive without 
the means of conducting the government, for the sole and avowed 
purpose of procuring changes in the Constitution, although the 
result had been arrived at by other means on different occasions. 
Of the confusion and distress which this repeated refusal of the 
Assembly to co-operate with the other branches of the Legislature 
produced in the province, it is difficult to convey any adequate 
idea. 

At length four years had elapsed since there had been any 
appropriation of provincial funds to the use of government. The 
distress and embarrassment which this state of circumstances in- 
flicted on the functionaries of the province, whose private resources 
are generally very limited, w^ere as humiliating as they were un- 
merited. Many were living on money borrowed at an exorbitant 
interest ; some could not but be reduced to the verge of ruin ; 
and, to show that this suffering of individuals was not unattended 
with danger to the general welfare, it may be enough to remark, 
without painfully dwelling on private circumstances, that the 
judges of the country were among those who were left to provide 
for their subsistence as best they might, after three years' stop- 
page of their official incomes. 

No complaint was made against the existing administration, 
nor was it asserted that any demerit in the parties caused them 
to be deprived of their lawful remuneration. No local cause of 
quarrel was alleged, of which the settlement might be indispens- 
able before the public business could be proceeded with ; on the 
contrary, it was stated openly, and without disguise, that changes 
of a political nature were the end in view, and that until certain 
acts should be done, competent to no other authority than the 
Imperial Parliament, and comprising organic changes in the Con- 
stitution, by virtue of which the Assembly itself existed, the House 
would never make another pecuniary grant to the government. 
Thus the public servants, no parties to the contest, were afflicted 
merely as instruments, through whose sufi^erings to extort conces- 
sions totally independent of their will to grant or to refuse. 



328 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

Such, however, were the means through which they hoped to 
effect their object ; and they further declared, that they would 
pay no arrears, or vote any civil list, until their demands should 
be complied with. Here the government also made a stand, 
and very properly said " We shall concede no further. Your 
demands involve a surrender of the colony to one party within 
it ; and we are not justified in granting them, consistently 
with the duty we owe to the Crown, to the public, or to colonists 
of British origin." Every governor had lately shown a desire to 
win the honor of pacifying Canada ; had receded and conceded ; 
offered conciliation and endured affronts ; borne and forborne, in 
a manner that it is quite humiliating to contemplate. Each 
succeeding one had used his influence in the legislative council to 
aid in the execution of instructions which, although they are just- 
ly entitled to the merit of kind intentions, have not so much 
claim on our admiration on the score of their merit or their dig- 
nity. 

As the Assembly had separated with a declaration that they 
would never vote a civil list until all their requests were granted, 
it was necessary for Parliament to interfere ; and Lord John 
Russell proposed and carried six resolutions, the most important 
of which was the following: 

" 5thly That for defraying the arrears due, on account of the 
established and customary charges of the administration of jus- 
tice, and of the civil government of the province, it is expedient 
that, after applying for that purpose such balance as should, on 
the lOth day of April last, be in the the hands of the Receiver- 
general, arising from the hereditary, territorial, and casual reve- 
nues of the Crown, the governor of the province be empowered 
to issue, out of any other moneys in the hands of the Receiver- 
general, such further sums as shall be necessary to effect the pay- 
ment of such arrears and charges up to the 10th of April last." 

Whether the spirit of concession had not been heretofore car- 
ried too far, and whether the public affairs of Canada ought to 
have been suffered (even for the amiable and praiseworthy object 
of endeavoring to satisfy, if possible, the dominant party in the 
House) to have arrived at this crisis, are questions upon which I 
have no desire upon this occasion to enter. 

But that these resolutions were indispensable, that they were 
not resorted to until they were necessary, and that Parliament 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA 329 

■was justified in the exercise of its supreme authority, no unpreju- 
diced and right-thinking man can doubt. A colony is a depend- 
ent country, while Great Britain is a supreme metropolitan 
state. The controlling power must obviously be greater than 
the power controlled. The jurisdiction, therefore, of a colony be- 
ing limited, if it pass those limits, it is no longer subordinate, but 
independent. It is not only the right, but the duty of Parliament 
to restrain within their constitutional limits local legislatures, in 
the same manner as it is the right of colonists to exercise those 
powers, and their duty not to attempt to exceed them. Mr. Pa- 
pineau had observed, "the Constitution has ceased to exist of 
right, and, in fact, can no longer be maintained but by force." 
Here then was a clear case for the legislative interference of Par- 
liament. To such an interposition no reflecting colonist will ever 
object, else there would be no appeal but the sword, whenever 
a designing demagogue should unfortunately obtain a majority 
of obstructive members in the Assembly. Yet these resolutions 
were said to be a violation of the declaratory Act of 1778, and 
an unconstitutional mode of levying taxes on the Canadians, and 
appropriating their money without their consent. 

But although the right of Parliament to interfere, and its in- 
tention to do so, were thus asserted, there was still so strong a 
repugnance felt by government to exercise the power, that they 
desired Lord Gosford to call together the Assembly again, and 
give those misguided men another opportunity of reconsidering 
their conduct. They met as summoned, but again refused all 
supplies, which had now been withheld for fiive years, and de- 
clined to exercise any legislative function. There was now no 
power to make new laws, no means of paying those who admin- 
istered the existing ones, no appropriation for the public service 
in any department. Schools were neglected, roads unrepaired, 
bridges dilapidated, jails unprovided for, temporary laws expired 
and expiring, and confusion and disorganization every where. 

Disaffection having now succeeded in producing anarchy, as- 
sumed the shape of insurrection, the natural result of so many 
years of agitation. The tragical events of this sad revolt are too 
recent and too impressive to be forgotten, and the recital would 
be as painful as it is unnecessary. 

Before I leave this subject of the rebellion, however, I must 
allude to the mitisratinir circumstances that attended it. Excited 



330 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

by every stimulant that parliamentary declamation could apply, 
or British sympathy suggest, or American republicanism offer, en- 
couraged at home, aided from abroad, and nowhere opposed or 
controlled, is it to be wondered at, that the prospect of plunder 
and impunity, seduced these deluded people from their allegiance, 
or that the contagion should spread from Lower to Upper Cana- 
da ? When such a man as Hume, known to be a supporter of 
the government, said to Mackenzie, " Your triumphant election 
on the 16th, and ejection from the Assembly on the 17th, must 
hasten that crisis which is fast approaching in the affairs of the 
Canadas, and which will terminate in freedom and independence 
from the baneful domination of the mother country, and the 
tyrannical conduct of a small and despicable faction in the 

colony The proceedings between 1772 and 1782 in 

America, ought not to be forgotten, and to the honor of the 
Americans, and for the interest of the civilized world, let their 
conduct and its result be ever in view;" and again, "one re- 
source, and one resource alone, remains : to be a free people, you 
must resist the British government ;" to whom does the greater 
share of guilt attach, to the seducer or the victim 1 

This rebellion had scarcely been put down, when Lord Dur- 
ham was appointed with extraordinary powers to complete the 
pacification. 

On this part of the history of Canada, it is needless to dwell. 
It has proved a failure, not from a deficiency of power, but from 
want of conduct, in the dictator. Instead of assembling around 
him a council of the most influential and best informed men in 
the colony, according to the evident spirit of the act, and his in- 
structions, he thought proper to appoint to that responsible situa- 
tion, officers attached to his household, or perfect strangers, with 
the magnanimous view, as he said, of assuming the whole responsi- 
bility of his own measures. But alas I that which is a mere mistake 
in a statesman, is often an irretrievable misfortune to a whole people, 

I have now shown that after the conquest of Canada, it was 
governed by English laws ; that the royal proclamation invited 
British subjects to remove there ; and promised them the protec- 
tion and enjoyment of those laws ; but that, in violation of that 
promise, in order to conciliate the French, their legal code was 
substituted in their place; while an injudicious division of the 
province was made, in consequence of which it became a Gallic 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 331 

and not a British colony. We have seen that by these means, 
and by permitting the recordin<^ language of their Parliament to 
be French, they were kept a distinct people, and that they al- 
ways had an overwhelming majority of members of their own 
origin in the Legislature, who were distinguished by an anti-com- 
mercial and anti-British feeling, which had been gradually grow- 
ing with the growth of the country until they were in a condition 
to dictate term.s to government. If this part of the review could 
be followed into detail, it would be found that this feeling was 
manifested by the manner in which they have constantly resisted 
local assessments, and made commerce bear every provincial ex- 
penditure — in the way they neutralized the electoral privileges of 
the voters of British origin — in the continuance of the oppressive 
tenure of the feudal law — in taxing emigrants from the mother 
country, and them only — in their attempts to wrest the crown- 
land from Government — in their attack on the Canada Company, 
and the introduction of settlers by them — in their opposition to a 
system of registry — in their mode of temporary legislation — in 
their refusal to vote supplies, and in the whole tenor of their 
debates and votes. It will be also found that the policy of every 
government, whether Tory or Whig, was conciliatory, and every 
reasonable change required (with many very unreasonable ones) 
was conceded to them ; and strange as it may appear, it is never- 
theless an undeniable fact, that the only party who had reason to 
complain, were the injured and traduced loyalists. 

Lord Durham introduced into Canada what is called "respons- 
ible government." It is not probable that he had any very 
definite idea of the meaning of that term himself, for he subse- 
quently disavowed the interpretation put upon it by the Canadian 
politicians. His object, however, seems to have been to leave 
the management, as far as possible, to themselves, by abandoning 
the royal prerogative, and loosing the bonds of parliamentary 
control. He assented to their governing by a majority, which 
should furnish a Ministry similar to that in England, but the 
Act of Reunion of the provinces was .so constructed, that the old 
Liberals, or democratic party, still continued in the ascendant. 
So far from acquiring reputation as a statesman for what he had 
done, he has been justly censured for doing nothing, or, what was 
worse, for assenting to demands that were inadmissible. It was 
not an evidence of skill, but an act of despair. From conduct it 



332 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

is not difficult to infer motives. If he had given utterance to his 
thoughts, he would probably thus have expressed himself: " You 
do not seem to be satisfied with English domination, which you 
have been instructed by a member of the Imperial Parliament to 
consider baneful ; now govern yourselves, if it will gratify you to 
imitate independent states. You shall have responsible govern- 
ment, a little administration of your own, and you may render 
yourselves as absurd as you please, by assuming in your youth the 
armor of manhood, which if too large and disproportioned for you 
now, will, if it does not wear out, fit you better hereafter, when 
your limbs shall have attained their full proportion." Nothing 
could better suit the views of the democrats than this ; but it 
filled the sober-minded and reflecting part of the community, that 
portion that embraces the learning, property, and loyalty of the 
country, with alarm. They saw in this hasty and petulant con- 
cession, that no one security had been devised for the protection 
of a minority. But the will of the dictator became law, and 
like good subjects they submitted to it, and endeavored to accom- 
modate themselves to the experiment with the best grace they 
could assume. 

The common operation of altering a dwelling-house requires 
great care ; every change begets another, as new difficulties are 
constantly arising in its progress, which were either not foreseen, 
or not sufficiently provided against ; and at last it is not unfre- 
quently found that it would have been better not to have under- 
taken the enlargement at all, or to have pulled down the edifice 
and reconstructed it. Something very similar has occurred in 
the political edifice of the colonial constitution of Canada. The 
predictions of practical men have been singularly verified, and 
the following glaring faults are now distinctly visible : 1st. The 
governor has been rendered powerless. He is stript of all his 
patronage, which has been transferred to the leader of the Assem- 
bly, who, from the almost universal sufTrage that exists in the 
country, is in his turn the mere mouthpiece of the democracy. 
The veto of the queen's representative, as a constitutional branch 
of the Legislature, is in like manner a mere nominal right, exist- 
ing in theory alone, but having no practical operation. To dis- 
solve a House, where there is a dominant party in the country, 
would be to surround himself with a similar but more violent 
Council, and make his dependence more palpable and more hnmil- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 333 

iating. If he assents to measures of a beneficial nature, the 
credit is given to those who prepare and carry them ; if to ob- 
noxious ones, he is held responsible ; for people are ever unreason- 
able, and expect the exercise of a power that no longer exists.* 

The last governor, in the proper sense of the word, was the 
late lamented Lord Metcalf He struggled hard to maintain his 
rights, and uphold the weight and authority that ought to per- 
tain to his station, and exhibited qualities of no ordinary nature 
in the unequal contest. It was not his fault that the post as- 
signed to him to defend was commanded by heights in possession 
of demagogues. He did all that skill courage, and perseverance 
could do, and having made a gallant defense, effected an honor- 
able retreat from the country. The task of his successors, if not 
so creditable, is at least more safe. Nothing is now expected 
from the queen's representative but to keep a good table, and 
affix his name to such documents as are prepared for his signa- 
ture. The first of these duties is unnecessary, and as regards 
the last an official stamp (V. R.) would answer the purpose as 
effectually, and make a saving that would gladden the hearts of 
the polished financiers, maimfactured at Manchester and Bir- 
mingham. 

2dly. — The Council, or Upper House, is destroyed. This 
body was formerly filled upon the recommendation of the gov- 
ernor, by the Crown ; the selection was made from the most in- 
telligent, influential, and opulent people in the province, and was 
as nearly analogous to the House of Lords as the different cir- 
cumstances of the country would permit. The only valid objec- 
tion ever made to its composition was, that in general too many 
heads of departments were assembled in it ; an evil of no very 
great magnitude in itself, but one that was susceptible of an easy 
remedy. It was an independent, and by far the most respectable 
legislative branch. It was a valuable safeguard to the crown, 
and a great protection to a minority when assailed by a thought- 
less or unprincipled majority. It was a monarchical institution ; 
and from its character and station, nurtured a class of public 
men, ambitious of the honor of a seat at its board, whose very 
virtues disqualified them from having the suffrage of a population 

* This was lately exemplified in the case of Lord Elgin, who was assailed 
by a mob for assenting to a bill for indemnifying traitors for their losses, wheu 
in fact he was merely obeying his masters, the little Canadian cabinet. 



334 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

that brooked no superior. The right of selection also gave great 
weight and influence to a governor. It formed an admirable 
balance of power, by maintaining and defending the rights of 
property, the permanency of chartered institutions, and the in- 
violability of public faith. Vacancies are still nominally filled 
from England at the recommendation of the governor ; but, alas I 
with this material change — at the bidclmg of his minister. It 
was deemed necessary, to use the specious but deceptive language 
of the day, to make it harmonize with the Lower House, which 
meant to strip it of all independent action, and make it echo the 
orders of its masters. It is now a mere duplicate of the Assembly. 
Weight, character, and intelligence are not requisite ; obedience 
is the one thing needful. The Governor and the Council exist but 
in name ; but in proportion as the Assembly has absorbed their 
power and authority, has its strength increased, until it is irresisti- 
ble. 

The statesmen of the American Revolution, who were republi- 
cans and not democrats, had both the virtue and the good sense 
to sacrifice or restrain their personal ambition for the good of their 
common country. " All the powers of government," says Mr. 
JefTerson, " legislative, executive, and judiciary, result to the 
legislative body. The concentration of these in the same hands 
is precisely the definition of a despotic government. It will be 
no alleviation, that these powers will be exercised by a plurality 
of hands, and not by a single one. One hundred and seventy- 
three despots would surely be as oppressive as one. Let those 
who doubt it turn their eyes to the republic of Venice. An 
elective despotism is not the government we fought for ; but one 
which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which 
the powers of government should be so divided and balanced 
among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend 
their legal limits without being efTectually checked and restrained 
by the others." 

3d. In former times the laws passed by the local legislature 
were always submitted to a searching examination in England, 
before they received the royal sanction ; and such was the reliance 
of the public upon the ability, industry, and fidelity of those per- 
sons to whom this task was committed, that their decision was 
almost always satisfactory. Indeed, the honor and good faith of 
England was an axiom that lay at the foundation of every argu- 



THE ENGLISH IS AMERICA. 335 

merit. Its wisdom or its prudence might be questioned, its in- 
tegrity never. However strong local prejudice might be, or how- 
ever the judgment of the legislature, or the ability of the provin- 
cial courts might be doubted, every right-minded person considered 
this surveillance as his greatest security. England was regarded 
as the fountain of justice, as it had ever been of considerate kind- 
ness and unbounded liberality. It was in truth and in fact a 
paternal authority, postponing or sacrificing its own convenience 
and undoubted rights, to the wishes, the feelings, and the happi- 
ness of her children. The ingratitude or insolence that questioned 
this notorious benevolence, is only equaled by the utter want of 
principle in the London revolutionary press, that gave currency 
to the accusation ; and the credulity or wickedness of the Pwadical 
leaders, who affected to believe it, to damage the Tories, who, 
whatever may have been their defects, were a true-hearted British 
party. They may have been profuse of the public money, but 
they lived in the days of extravagance ; they may have been ob- 
stinate, for principle is worthy of a stout defense, and they may, 
like their successors, have conferred honors on their own country- 
men, in utter forgetfulness of colonists ; but they were English- 
men, and had no greater share of national vanity than is common 
in the people of Great Britain. But whatever they were, they 
were honest. They preferred experience to experiment, and were 
not willing to peril their country or barter their rights for popu- 
larity. This surveillance is now merely nominal ; the form is 
preserved, but the substance is gone ibrever. When an appeal is 
made, the answer is uniform : " You have responsible government, 
we can not interfere. It is a local matter ; you must settle it 
yourselves." 

This great constitutional check, therefore, is gone. The guar- 
antee of England, that no local injustice shall be done no longer 
exists, and Canada is ruled by the Assembly. The governor 
there is not a person but a name, having as little meaning, force, 
or power as his title of "Excellency." The Upper House is a 
section of the Lower, from whence it derives its being, and to 
which it owes obedience. If this be not voluntarily given, it can 
be coerced into submission. The restraint imposed by the kind, 
wise, and paternal superintendence of England is withdrawn ; 
and instead of a colonial government belonging to a monarchy, 
based on principles of internal freedom and external dependence, 



336 THE ENGLISH TN AMERICA. 

there is an unchecked and unmitigated democracy, that could not 
fail to excite the admiration of a chartist or a hero of the barri- 
cades. That such a state of things was never contemplated by 
those who introduced responsible government, it is but common 
justice to them to suppose, but the navigation of an unknown sea 
is always attended with danger, and the ship of state is now 
environed on every side with sunken rocks, that are but ill-con- 
cealed iirom view, even in the calmer weather. The self elected 
reformers of the trading towns of England and Scotland, with 
that spirit of speculation that peculiarly belongs to the owners of 
vessels, are loud in their demands to abandon her for a total loss, 
but honest men must lighten her of her load of democracy, repair 
her, and having once more got her into deep water, navigate her 
with cautious vigilance. 

It is clear that one of two things must be done ; either the 
former checks, so incautiously removed, must be at once restored, 
or further concessions made to invest the different branches of 
the Legislature with independent action. Either too much has 
been done or too little. To retrace one's steps is humiliating as 
well as difficult. The pride of man revolts at an acknowledg- 
ment of error or ignorance ; and power, when once parted with, 
is not easily recovered. Progression is safer, and more agreeable. 
To give due weight and influence to the Upper House, its mem- 
bers must not receive their appointment from a political leader, 
but directly from the Crown or from the people. If it must be 
from the latter, then since they are to represent the upper class 
of society in the province, let that class select them. Make the 
property-qualification of the elector so considerable, as to insure 
the exercise of discretion and judgment in the electors ; and to 
impart character, stability, and authority to the members, let the 
property-qualification of the candidate be still higher than that 
of the voter, and let the term of service be not less than ten 
years at least. Restore to the queen's representative some of 
bis authority, and assign to him some duties to perform; and 
sufi^er him to be in reahty, what he now nominally is, the gov- 
ernor. Such an arrangement would elevate the whole character 
of the Legislature, and acquire for it the respect and obedience 
of the whole people ; thus each branch of the provincial Parlia- 
ment would be independent in its action. 

There is, in every country where constitutional government 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 331 

prevails, and ever will be, a mii.ority more or less nuinerous and 
powerful, according to circumstances. This body, whether bb- 
eral or conservative, English or French. Protestant or Roman.st, 
is entitled, in common justice, to protection. At present they are 
at the mercy of an adverse political opponent, and they have no 
means of redress. If they appeal to England, the reply is. You have 
responsible government. If to the queen's representative, he 
Z" bis shoulders and says : " What can I do ? If to the Coun- 
cil they are informed that they entirely concur with the Ministry, 
who We a large majority in their body. Cut offfrom all redress 
and baffled in all their attempts to obtain a hearing if in the 
bitterness of their hearts, when they reflect that their forefathers 
1 their homes and their fortunes to follow the flag of their king 
10 a foreign land, and that they themselves have periled their 
ves and properties in suppressing rebellions in the country o> 
thendop'tion, without even the thanks of Parliament, when 
ion rs and rewards were bestowed on the military for mere^ 
„ their dutv ■ if when goaded into e.witemeut by what they 
: ":i e li ited'injury. they talk of annexation and indepen- 
de tr hey are told that their lav.guage and conduct is treason- 
altai d are forthwith ejected from their command m the mili- 
tia Lnd from the commission of the peace. I am not their ad- 
vo;at n r do I even assert that their complaints are well or .11 

Stf;:d:^rt^:^:t^^^^:^r^^ 
-f:srrbifri::ilttr°^^^^^^^^^^ 

h':: s wblcb, whUe it can not fail to satis,- them, J. be a^ 

:rui:r:i:^i:-^--^^^^^^^^^^^ 

"no man whatever ought to be intrusted with tbe disposal of 
all the offices in a colony^ It is too S-t a poweMoo lablejo 
abuse, and never was, and never can ^'^^"li it must be 
the imputation of partiality or ''"""P' 7 ^^ ^^1' i„j„ed as in 
committed to any one, it can -jh - ^« ^"J^ He°is gener- 
the hands of a governor, responsible <> ^^ ^ "^^tarrassed by 
ally a man of rank and honor and ^"^ ^'^"Xes, He can 
faLy connections, personal feehi^s, « ^-^P ^tl the higher 
have but one object in view, which, if not louna 



338 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

principles of duty, is well secured by a regard for his own charac- 
ter and the success of his administration ; and that object is a 
faithful and honest discharge of the trust reposed in him. But 
even he may be biased by those by whom he is surrounded, who 
have more facilities of access to him than others ; and the purer- 
minded a man is himself, the more difficult is it for him even to 
suppose the possibility of deception being practiced upon him. 
But in a country like Canada, whose political leaders are the 
mere emanations of democracy, it is impossible to select so unfit 
a depository of power as the premier. He will inevitably use 
it to pay for past or purchase future services ; he has personal 
friendship to gratify, or private insult to avenge. The exigen- 
cies of party will preponderate over the claims of justice, and the 
character of the public servants must in time be greatly deterio- 
rated. To remedy this evil, to protect the minority, to secure 
the people from peculations and the court from pollution, it will 
be necessary to re-invest the governor with the patronage, sub- 
ject to the apiJrobation of the Upijer House, and place it under 
similar guards and restraints (by requiring the consent and con- 
currence of the Council to his nomination to certain offices) as 
are imposed upon the President of the United States by the ad- 
mirable institutions of that country, which are so simple in their 
operation, and yet so safe, from the numerous checks and bal- 
ances they contain. That this system of self-government could 
be so modified as to work advantageously, there can be no doubt ; 
but real substantial responsibility must be both devised and in- 
creased. One thing, however, is certain — this change can only 
be effected by Parliament. The Canadian politicians have tasted 
the sweets of despotism, and they will not limit or diminish their 
own power. But here I must pause, and adopting the advice 
given by Horace* to a friend similarly employed, bring this 
sketch to a conclusion. 

" PrincipiTm amicitias, et arma 
Nondum expiatis uncta cruoribus 
Periculosse plenum opus alese, 
Tractas, et incedis per ignes 
Suppositos cineri doloso."' 



Odes, II. 1. 



CHAPTER VII. 

APPLICATION OF THE FACTS CONTAINED IN THIS WORK. 

Value of the preceding History to Members of Parliament and the Republican 
Party in Europe — The (Question considered whether a Republican Govern- 
ment, like that of America, can exist in England or France: Firstly, with 
Reference to the History of the first Attempt at Colonization, and herein of 
the Condition of America at the Time — The People who made the Experiment 
of Settling at Massachusetts — Their Peculiarities — No pre-existing Monarchj', 
Hierarchy, or Nobility to contend with — Settlers not a Military People — No 

-^lolts Monarchy the oldest and most natural form of Government in the 

"World Laws passed to regulate the Price of Labor— Massachusetts was a 

Federative Body in Miniature. Secondly, with Reference to the Pei'iod of 
the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, and herein of general Predisposition 
to Rebellion — Immediate Cause of Revolution— The large Republic possesses 
all the Features of the first : 1st. The same vast Territoy ; 2d. People of one 
common Origin and Language ; :id. No pre-existing Monarchical Institutions ; 
4th. No powerful Neighbors; 5th. No Poor; 6th. Important Additions or 
Chanties; 7th. Universal Toleration, in consequence of which there is Danger 
of Romish Ascendency — Growth of Sectarianism and infinite Dissent— Ameri- 
can Episcopalian Church, its Character, Conduct, and Growth— Republicanism 
favorable to Spread of Popery— The Error of the Jesuits in judging of it— State 
of Popery in purely Roman Catholic Countries, and where Protestantism 
prevails— Permanent Provision for President and Judges— High Character of 
the Supreme Court of the United States— American Mode of selecting Judges 
recommended for Colonies- Difference in Power of Enghsh and American 
Judijes. Thirdly, Reasons why a Republic can not be successful in England 
—Effects of Monarchy on Society. Fourthly, Reasons why it can not exist 
in France— Effect of first Revolution in France— Restoration— Return of No- 
bles, Clersry, and Gentry— Actions of Bonaparte— Final Expulsion of the 
Bourbons—Louis PhilUpe's Conduct— Abdication— " La Petite Eglise"— 
Puritanism and Infidelity compared— They produce similar Effects- Roman- 
ism ia France and in the United States compared— Extraordinary Influence 
possessed by the Popish Clergy-Poverty of agricultural Classes m France- 
Proper Size of Farms-Superiority of two Legislative Chambers over a smgle 
Assembly— Downward tendency of Democracy in France-Difference be- 
tween Anglo-Saxon and Galilean Races illustrated by California-Americans 
could not ^retain their Institutions if France were evacuated for them, nor 
could the French, if possessed of America and its Institutions, work the 
Machinery or govern it successfully-Only sure Basis of any Government. 

The foregoing chapters contain a mass of facts most useful for 
those who have a voice in the government of the colonies of Great 
Britain. They portray the history, condition, and fate of provmces 
planted by disaffected emigrants, in which the Church was una- 



340 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

ble, or neglected, to extend her beneficial influence, and where 
the State left republicanism to grow up to maturity, and bear the 
natural fruit of rebellion. At the same time, they show the con- 
dition and prospects of Canada, settled by loyalists, distinguished 
alike for their intelligence and devoted attachment to the Crown, 
whose affections an unwise concession, hasty and inconsiderate 
legislation, and a fatal indulgence and patronage bestowed upon 
democracy, have alienated, without conciliating those whom they 
were intended to win. They exhibit also the spectacle of an 
abortive attempt at self-government, in which too much of the 
monarchical character of the constitution has been destroyed, and 
too little republicanism introduced into its place to satisfy either 
party ; and consequently annexation or independence are can- 
vassed or advocated with the same shameless insolence with which 
a less intelligent, but equally restless faction in Dublin was per- 
mitted to disseminate treason, under the specious pretext of a re- 
peal of the Union. 

To the democratic party in Great Britain and France, they 
furnish data by which they can test the accuracy of their theory, 
that that which has succeeded in the United States is equally 
applicable to them, and would be productive, on trial, of the same 
beneficial results. I do not propose to discuss at any length, the 
practicability of their adapting the American constitution to their 
condition. My object is to collect and arrange the facts, upon 
which it may be argued by those more immediately interested in 
it, who from living on the spot where they propose to try the ex- 
periment, and being conversant with what is passing before their 
eyes, are more competent for the task than I can be. An author 
of great and deserved celebrity says* no American should ever 
speak of Europe, for he no sooner opens his mouth on the subject, 
than he betrays his ignorance and presumption. Whether there 
may not be some little arrogance in the remark, I shall not stop 
to inquire ; but that he can not possibly know as much of Great 
Britain as an Enghshman, or of France as a Frenchman, will be 
readily conceded. Europeans, on the other hand, have a wider 
grasp of intellect, infinitely more penetration, and a spirit of pa- 
tient research, and laborious investigation, that enable them both 
to speak and write about America with greater ease and less diffi- 
dence than the natives. Unable to retain their own transatlantic 
* D» Tocquavill©. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 341 

possessions, or preserve their respective countries from revolutions, 
they can nevertheless easily detect the errors of the Americans, 
and are somewhat alarmed for the fate of a people who are igno- 
rant enough to protect their agriculture and manufactures, and 
are sufficiently selfish to prefer a commercial system, under which 
they have grown and flourished, to periling their prosperity by 
rash innovations, alike opposed to reason and experience I Great 
Britain has endeavored to instruct them, that a home market is 
in no way distinguishable from any other, and to prove the sin- 
cerity of her conviction, has abandoned to them that of which 
she had so long the monopoly in her colonies ; but they have ac- 
cepted the proflered boon, and at the same time very quietly re- 
tained their own. It is no wonder, therefore, that they are very 
complacently informed, that they are incompetent to express an 
opinion upon European subjects. Submitting to authority, I shall 
not go largely into theories, but rather I shall recapitulate a few 
facts that lie dispersed through this work, or which I may not 
have sufficiently detailed, that are very important elements in the 
consideration of the question, whether such a republic as that of 
America, or any thing at all resembling it, can exist either in 
England or in France. 

The subject must be considered with reference to two distant 
and distinct periods of time : 1st. The early stages of colonization 
in 1620 ; 2d. The state of things existing at the adoption of the 
Federal Constitution in 1789. 

First. — The early stage of colonization. 

Under this head we must advert to the condition of the country 
when a settlement was formed in it, and the character of the 
people by whom it was attempted. When Massachusetts was 
first colonized. North America was, with some few insignificant 
exceptions, a vast unbroken forest, extending from the shores of 
the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. This immense heritage was 
divided among wandering tribes of Indians, who lived by the 
chase or the fisheries, and bartered away, to the emigrants, their 
freehold for glass beads, worthless trinkets, or intoxicating liquors. 
The world of wood and water was more than sufficient for both 
races, and as each successive wave of population advanced, the 
aborigines receded, preferring the listless repose, or exciting sports 
of savage life, to the unceasing toil, and daily cares of husbandry. 
The encroachments of the white man were slow, and almost 



342 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

imperceptible. The sound of the woodman's ax, and the fires 
with which he destroyed the trunks of the trees he had felled, 
alarmed the animals of the forest, and as they retired, they were 
followed by the red man. But neither the Indian warrior, nor 
the English settler, ever dreamed that this gradual but incessant 
rising of the flood of emigration would soon cover the whole land, 
and that entire nations of the former would shortly cease to exist, 
but in history. Such was the country that the Puritans selected 
for their republican experiment. Who these fanatics were, we 
have seen ; what they were, has not been so fully expressed. 
They were mostly people from the middle class of society, men of 
good family, considerable means, and liberal education. They 
left England at a time when the rights of men were clearly 
defined, and stoutly defended, when the law of the land was 
well matured, and impartially administered, and when the ex- 
tent of prerogative alone required to be limited, and restrained, 
by reasonable and constitutional grounds. They had more breed- 
ing than the Presbyterians, more knowledge than the Baptists, 
and more judgment than the Independents. To these qualities 
they added craftiness, a quality rarely found connected with a 
sound understanding ; hut their constrained conformity to the 
usages of the Church, had taught them duplicity, and deceit 
always superinduces cunning. By the exercise of this low art, 
they concealed their numerical weakness from the savages, whom 
they soon circumvented, and their ambitious schemes of inde- 
pendence from the English, who were easily duped by loyal and 
affectionate professions. Bold, hardy, enterprising, and intelli- 
gent, they were able to grapple with the difficulties of their 
situation, while their enthusiasm gave them a unity of action, a 
fixity of purpose, and a spirit of endurance, that rendered their 
ultimate success inevitable. 

Secondly. — They had nothing to destroy or remove, when they 
laid the foundations of their empire. There was neither royalty 
nor prelacy to exterminate. They were guiltless of the blood of 
Charles and Laud. The merciless and wicked task of putting 
them to death was left to their brethren in England.- The cool- 
ness with which these atrocious murders were committed, and the 
solemn mockery of a trial, conceded to the martyrs after their fate 
had been predetermined by their judges, show that fanaticism 
hardens the heart, which it is the object of religion to soften and 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 343 

ameliorate. Not only was there no primate in the land of their 
adoption, but there were no bishops, and no Estabhshed Church. 
There were no nobles to defend their lives, their order, and their 
estates. No endowments to confiscate, no colleges to raze to the 
ground, as heretical or papistical seminaries. No altars to plun- 
der, and no malignants to prescribe or banish. But, above all, 
there were no dangerous partisans of these ancient orders or estab- 
lishments, to foment discord and intrigue among the people. 
They had the whole field to themselves. There was neither 
whig nor tory there, democrat nor loco-foco, free trader nor pro- 
tectionist. They were all republicans in politics, and congrega- 
tionalists in religion. They were united in all things. If any 
man difiered in opinion from them, the aid of a divine was 
sought for, who, selecting the most appropriate text he could 
find, excited at once the astonishment of the offender at his pow- 
erful gifts, and repentance for his refractory spirit. If this re- 
source failed, and the culprit still resisted, he was fined, or 
whipped, or banished, or underwent all three punishments, accord- 
ing to his delinquency ; so early did the tyranny of a majority 
— inevitable consequence of republicanism — exhibit itself. 

Thirdly. — They were not a military people. Although they 
acquired in their defensive wars with the Indians and French, 
great skill and courage, and a discipline and obedience to orders 
rarely found in fresh levies, they cultivated the arts of peace, and 
deprecated the necessity that compelled them to take up the 
sword. It is true there was but little scope or inducement for 
martial exploits. The savages had neither flocks nor herds, nor 
cities, nor fertile meadows to tempt the avarice or reward the 
toils of the soldier. His bow and arrows, with which he sup- 
ported and defended himself, constituted his sole possessions. 
The French, in Canada, were separated from them by impassable 
rivers or lakes, and a trackless and immeasurable forest. The 
Dutch settlements, on the Hudson, were too feeble to excite their 
apprehension, and too poor to suggest the idea of plunder. The 
rest of the continent was peopled by their own countrymen ; there 
is, however, no reason to suppose if they had had neighbors of a 
more formidable or more wealthy character, that they would have 
harbored the unworthy design of invading their territory, to enrich 
themselves at their expense. Theirs was a flight into the desert 
to avoid pursuit. They chose Massachusetts, not because it was 



344 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

fertile, but because it ajSbrded an asylum, fortified by three thou- 
sand miles of ocean on one side, and an interminable forest on the 
other. Whatever resemblance they bore to the saints, whose 
title they very modestly appropriated to themselves, though they 
refused it to the Apostles, it is certain the land of their adoption 
furnished a very inadequate idea of a terrestrial paradise. 

Fourthly. — Having brought vi^ith them from England, the 
frame-work of a constitution with which they were familiarly 
acquainted, they adopted, not only without opposition, but by 
general consent, several organic alterations, which, though they 
materially changed its character, no way impeded its practical 
operation. The chief magistrate who, in their own country was 
called a king, they denominated "a governor;" and instead of 
an hereditary succession in one family, they made the office elect- 
ive, and the tenure annual. In other respects, their respective 
duties and obligations were very similar. The Upper Branch of 
the Legislature was constituted upon the same democratic princi- 
ples as the Lower, and invested with powers analogous to those 
pertaining to the House of Lords. They relinquished the Church 
of England, and established Congregationalism in its place. They 
fled from their native land, and emigrated to America, because, 
they abhorred persecution ; and then, by one of those signal acts 
of inconsistency to which human nature is unhappily so subject, 
they commenced compelling all others to conform to their views 
It was an error, however, that soon worked its own cure, as we 
have already seen. 

This little republic with a State Church, was the first attempt 
at self-government on this continent. No men were better quali- 
fied to try the experiment than themselves. They had the 
knowledge, the prudence, the perseverance, and the unity that 
was requisite ; and for half a century success attended them, 
until the strong arm of imperial power interfered, and compelled 
obedience to royal authority. But they knew full well that their 
favorite form of government required a succession of similar peo- 
ple, with equal powers of discrimination, and imbued with the 
same principles. They, therefore, as I have already related, 
erected their republic on the only sure basis on which it ever can 
exist — general education ; for equality of rank, political rights, 
and the infusion of the elective principle into every institution, 
are of themselves not sufficient to preserve vitality for any length 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 345 

of time. They recognized the voice of the people as the only 
true source of power. Their first, their constant, and sole aim 
was to make the population understand and value their privileges, 
and render themselves worthy of the high vocation to which they 
were called. In other countries the task is almost impracticable ; 
in Massachusetts it was comparatively easy. There was no igno- 
rant and turbulent mob to deal with ; no hopeless and squalid 
poverty to relieve and enlighten ; no " iron king" to speculate 
on their toils ; no " cotton princes" to agitate and influence the 
masses, by deluding them with the promise of cheap bread, while 
they were defrauding them of their wages, and plunging them 
into deeper distress ; and no, " factory financiers" to preach 
exemption from taxes, by the easy and honest process of repudi- 
ating the National Debt. But above all, there were no noble 
radicals to barter their order and their country for popularity, 
and, like old " Egalite," sacrifice every principle in the vain hope 
that they might eventually escape from the beasts of prey whom 
they had fed and excited. Every man was, or could be if he de- 
sired, a freeholder, not by ejecting the possessor, but by subduing 
the soil ; not by fraud or confiscation, but by a grant willingly 
bestowed ; because he who added an acre of arable land to the 
general stock, contributed to the means and support of the com- 
munity. It was a rural population, who purchased no land, paid 
no rent, and owned no superiors but those whom they themselves 
elected to represent their local claims on the State, for purposes 
to which their individual means were inadequate, or to assist in 
framing laws which they themselves were to obey. A people, 
so situated, are naturally moral. Even in poor countries, like 
Massachusetts, the virgin soil produces suflicient for the support 
of a family, and a surplus for hospitality, as well as a suitable 
provision for those who leave the parental roof. 

Industry and frugality were the characteristics of the people. 
Their wants were few ; food, raiment, and shelter alone were in- 
dispensable. Common diligence easily supplied these. Luxuries 
were unknown ; but comforts and abundance were within the 
reach of all who had health, strength, and inclination to labor. 
They were all equal by nature ; the constitution of the coun- 
try made them so legally ; and the education provided by the 
State rendered them so practically. The only observable in 
equality among them was such as is in.separable from our condi- 



346 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

tion. As in life some men are taller or stronger than others, and 
some endowed with powers of mind or body superior to those of 
their neighbors ; so there will, from these or other adventitious 
causes, always be some richer or poorer, more distinguished or 
obscure than others.* 

There is no democracy in nature. The lofty mountain rises 
boldly from the lowly valley, and the tall cedar or aspiring pine 
towers above the humbler trees of the forest. The surface of the 
world is every where varied and diversified. The nucleus of 
every society is a family. The father is despotic. When fami- 
lies increase, they form a tribe. The patriarch of the little com- 
munity maintains the same authority. His will is law, and all 
submit to it because it is parental. As these tribes become more 
numerous, the most powerful chieftain assumes, or is selected for, 
the supreme command, and takes the attributes of royalty and 
the title of sovereign, while the other magnates occupy the posi- 
tion of nobles. This is the oldest and most natural form of gov- 
ernment. The combination of these separate communities gives 
strength to the nation, and the centralization of power in one per- 
son imparts weight and dignity to the throne. The first internal 
struggle is commonly between the monarch and his nobles, which 
is hastened or retarded by the personal qualities of the prince. 
In this contest an appeal is m.ade by both to the people, on the 
one hand to repress the turbulence or insubordination of the lords, 
and on the other to restrain the despotism or resist the oppression 
of the king. To secure the support of the population, resort is 
had to the usual arts of popularity. They are informed that they 
have rights, of which each claims to be the champion, and are 
promised immunities and privileges which both engage to main- 
tain and enlarge. If the monarch is weak in intellect or deficient 
in conduct, he is compelled to execute a magna-charta, and sub- 
mit to have his authority limited ; if he be successful he takes 
care to punish the refractory, and disable his opponents from en- 

* Burke says, " Turbulent discontented men of quality, in proportion as they 
are puffed up with pride and arrogance, generally despise their own order. 
One of the first symptoms they discover of a selfish and mischievous ambition, 
is a profligate disregard of a dignity of which they partake with others. When 
men of rank sacrifice ideas of dignity to ambition, and work with low instru- 
ments for low ends, the whole composition becomes low and base. Does it not 
produce something ignoble and inglorious ? a tendency to lower along with in- 
dividuals all the dignity and importance of the State ?" 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA 347 

tertaining similar projects of aggression. The people, from being 
so often familiarized with these disputes, and so constantly flatter- 
ed and cajoled, finding that the real strength of the nation resides 
in them, begin at last to beheve that there is great truth in all 
the praises bestowed upon them, and persuade themselves that 
they are competent to govern without the aid of kings or princes, 
dispense with both, and set up a republic. Instead of being con- 
tent with a few masters, whom they could always conciHate or 
control, they submit themselves to that many-headed monster a 
majority, and become alternately tyrants or slaves. Democracy, 
therefore, is the last resort, because it is the least natural form 
of government, and has been generally found in old countries to 
terminate at the point from which it started, military depotism. 
The main attraction it has for mankind is the constant incense 
it offers to their vanity. It calls them " free and enlightened 
citizens," and " sovereign people." It denies the divine right of 
kings, but assures the multitude that vox i^opuli is vox Dei. 
Although there is something repugnant in it to the feelings of a 
gentleman, there is a certain stage of civihzation to which it is 
not ill adapted. It is sufficient for the wants and the means of 
a rural and a moral population, for it requires virtuous conduct for 
its basis ; but it presents, in its practical operation, no charms for 
any one above the yeoman, for in proportion as the people are 
simple and rustic, so is refinement wanting. That is generated 
only in more polished circles ; for where all men are equal by 
law, by nature, and by compact, the highest must be reduced, 
and the lowest raised ; and the level is inevitable mediocrity. 
From tliese natural causes the state of society in the Repubhc 
of Massachusetts at the end of fifty years (or in 1684) was far 
inferior to that of New York and Virginia. It was, however, 
the will of the Americans to found a republic, and they did so 
without an effort and without a struggle. My object is not to 
inquire whether they were right or WTong, but to describe the 
real progress and fall of this little State. Having thus establish- 
ed it, they secured its continuance by the means I have related. 
It was an unobstructed experiment. It was not a revolution, 
which must ever precede such a change in old and populous 
countries. There was neither pressure from without, nor convul- 
sions within. It was a compact, into wdiich all unanimously en- 
tered. 



348 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

5tli. — Although the Puritans who migrated to America, we?e 
m general men of station, intelligence, and property, yet they 
were not all so. There were mechanics, servants, and men who 
earned their bread by their daily labor. The proportion of the 
latter was small, and their condition soon became better than 
that of their employers.* 

It was not necessary to erect national workshops for them, at 
the expense of the State, as was the case in the recent revolution 
in Paris ; on the contrary, laws were passed,! regulating their 
wages, to prevent them from growing rich too rapidly from the 
wants of the community. For the same cause, no disciplined 
troops were required to protect the government from the tumults 
of the people. A few constables, to serve notices or legal process, 
were all the police force necessary for the administration of the 
law. But, while they secured the equality of al], they made due 
provision for the support of the supremacy of the law ; and con- 
tempt of authority was repressed by fine, imprisonment, or corpo- 
ral punishment. 

6th. — This little State of Massachusetts was a federative body 
in itself. The town meeting, as we have seen, was a little re- 
public, subordinate to the central one at Boston. So was the 
county, with its bench of magistrates, grand jury, and parapher- 
nalia of government. Above all, and controlling all, was the 
metropolitan or federal administration in Massachusetts. The 
great American Republic did not spring, therefore, directly from 
the revolution : it resulted as an inevitable consequence of the 
settlement of the Puritans in New England, and the institutions 

* This is the natural course of events in a new colony. The wheel of fortune 
turns rapidly. The gentleman is soon reduced in circumstances : his servant, 
who knows the value of frugality, and is ajccustomed to labor, becomes rich 
enough to educate his son, who, in his turn, loses sight of the means by which 
the property was acquired, and relapses into the obscurity from which he tem- 
porarily emerged. I find in a letter written by the collector of the port of Bos- 
ton (Mr. Randolph), addressed to Lord Clarendon, and dated June 14th, 1682, 
the following account of the state of society : '• The first adventurers are either 
all dead, and their children drove out of all by their fathers' servants, or are so 
few and inconsiderable, that no notice is taken of them. And as for all the per- 
sons joined in the faction here, I know but one man who was not a servant, or 
a servant's son, who now govern the governor and the whole country." This 
is said to be exaggerated, and it is possible that the language is too unlimited, 
but I am inclined to think it is not far from the truth. 

t Carpenters, joiners, bricklayers, sawyers, and thatchers, were to receive 
no more than two shillings per diem.— See Code of Laws Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 
435: vol. II. 449. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 349 

they founded there. It was a vigorous shoot from the old stock, 
the roots of which were still alive, though concealed from view, 
and were constantly spreading and extending themselves under 
the surface. 

We come now to the consideration of the second period, the 
adoption of the Federal Constitution, and must pause for a time 
to view it in its renovated but more artificial form. In the his- 
torical sketch given of the little republic oi" Massachusetts, we 
observe nearly all the features of the great Union. After the 
charter was withdrawn, in 1684, and a more monarchical char- 
acter given to the government, we have seen that the people had 
become so accustomed and attached to their old institutions, that 
they never lost an opportunity of resisting the royal authority, 
and the interference of Parliament ; and that they had so dissem- 
inated their democratic opinions through the other colonies, that 
the inhabitants were every where ready, and only waited for a 
suitable opportunity to throw off the yoke altogether. The in- 
excusable, unconstitutional, and monstrous project of taxing a 
free people, without their consent, unhappily afforded them the 
pretext they desired, and, availing themselves of an occasion 
which appeared to justify to themselves and the world a resort to 
arms, they burst their bonds by one desperate effort, and proclaim- 
ed themselves independent. They had been so long used to local 
legislation under their various charters, and other forms of pro- 
vincial government, that they were at no loss what institutions 
to substitute in their place. Preserving their several prescribed 
colonial limits, they founded a republic in each ; and, from their 
past experience of the advantages of combination, they formed, 
with no great invention in the design, but with infinite skill in 
the details, a supreme federative compact, denominated, by way 
of contradistinction to those of the separate provinces, the govern- 
ment of the " United States." The accidental circumstance of 
their having heretofore existed as distinct plantations, produced 
an unwillingness to surrender the control which they ever exer- 
cised, within their own limits, over their own affairs. They, 
therelbre, retained their respective sovereignty, and only imparted 
to the federal government so much power as was necessary to 
preserve uniformity on subjects of vital importance, and to enable 
it on emergencies to wield their combined resources, to treat in 
the name and on behalf of all with foreign powers, to regulate 



350 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

their common army and navy, and similar objects. Without 
these pre-existing sub-divisions of the country, they would have 
had to resort to one general central government, which, from the 
extent of their territory, and the nature of democracy, would, 
from necessity, either have been too Weak to be efficient, or too 
strong to be quite consistent with liberty. Chance, therefore, 
happily limited their experiment to its present form. 

In the great Republic we find all those pecuharities that char- 
acterized their first model. 

1st. — The same vast territory for the purpose of expansion. 

2d. — People of one common origin speaking the same language, 
accustomed to the same laws, versed in self government, and 
possessing all those institutions, without which power can never 
safely be lodged in the whole population. 

3d. — No pre-existing hierarchy, aristocracy, or hereditary orders, 
and no monarch. The latter they had never seen. He was to 
them a mere legal fiction. Theoretically they had admitted his 
existence ; but, practically they had never acknowledged his 
representative. 

4th. — Though they had exhibited great military skill and 
courage, as well as their predecessors in Massachusetts, they 
never desired nor required an army. Like them, they had no 
neighbors to fear, were removed at a distance from the bel- 
ligerent powers of Europe ; and five thousand men under arms 
were sufficient to prevent or chastise the incursions of the sav- 
ages. 

5th. — In like manner they had no poor, but the infirm and 
the aged. In many other respects the resemblance is too strik- 
ing to be misunderstood. 

On the other hand, they made some extensive changes, and 
some institutions and principles were introduced that owe their 
origin to the statesmen that framed the Constitution, and not the 
old Puritan republicans. Among the first and most important 
was universal toleration, a refusal to endow or establish any form 
of religion, and a fixed determination to place all on a footing of 
perfect equality. To the casual observer, nothing can be sounder 
in principle, or more just and equitable in practice. I do not say 
that they could have done otherwise, situated as they were at the 
time ; but no man, who understands the state and operation of 
the various sects in the United States, but must see that in the 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 351 

end this universal and unlimited toleration, or right of all relio-- 
ioiis, will ultimately produce that political preponderance which 
it was designed to prevent. At the period of the revolution, 
there w^ere very few Romanists in any colony hut Maryland ; 
and one of the grievances complained of by dissenting demagogues, 
was the privilege conceded by Great Britain to the French in 
Canada to enjoy religious liberty, vv'hich they affected to think 
would jeopardize the safety of the whole continent. The appeal 
thus made to the prejudices of the people, produced, as it was 
designed, great acerbity of feeling, and the cry of " No Popery," 
was added to that of " No taxation." No sooner, however, had 
they achieved their independence, than they invited emigration 
from all parts of the world, without reference to creeds, and prom- 
ised protection to all. Rome availed herself of the invitation 
so freely given, and supplied priests and funds to her numerous 
votaries that resorted thither. Contrary to expectation, they 
proved themselves good democrats, extolled that tolerance in 
others which they never knew how to practice themselves, and 
condemned that despotism in Europe, whose chains they had so 
long and so successfully assisted to forge. Prejudice was dis- 
armed, and apprehension allayed ; and the people congratulated 
themselves on the wisdom and justice of their institutions, that 
could work such a wondrous change in the habits and thoughts 
of a body of Christians, whose very name had hitherto been asso- 
ciated with the grossest superstition, and the most devoted bigotry. 
Such a form of religion, they said, could not long exist in a re- 
public ; mixing freely, and associating familiarly, with Protestants, 
they would soon learn to prefer independence of mind to a blind 
submission to the dictates of a priesthood, who had no longer In- 
quisitions to interrogate, and no dungeons to terrify or punish 
lieretics. They had hitherto seen too little of them to know 
much about them; and what they had heard, as is always the 
case when a character is sought for among enemies, was grossly 
exaggerated. They found them good citizens, and what was of 
equal importance, devoted republicans. Finding they were by 
no means as bad as they were represented, like all men who dis- 
cover that they have been imposed upon, they turned a deaf ear 
to all that experience could reveal, or wisdom suggest, as to the 
dangers to be apprehended to the State, in future times, from the 
unity of so large a body, and the facility with which its whole 



352 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

weight could be wielded by a foreign potentate. Indeed there 
was but little opportunity for reflection. The resources of the 
country were great, and the activity of the people still greater. 
Wealth was to be found in every branch of business ; but the 
most diligent and industrious appropriated to themselves the largest 
share. In this universal search for gold, such was the zeal and 
the hurry of the pursuit, that there was no time for meditation. 
The urgent and indispensable wants of the State and of individ- 
uals were supplied with impatient haste. Futurity, like relig- 
ion, was left to take care of itself, in the firm belief that volun- 
tary efforts would be sufficient to meet an emergency, if it should 
ever occur. The growth was forced and unnatural, and the 
shoots so exuberant, as to lose in strength what they gained in 
size. In the mean time all was change. The new had grown 
old, and the old worn-out or decayed. Massachusetts claimed to 
be the Athens of America, and regarded its University with 
pride and veneration. Its professors would adopt nothing with- 
out proof The authority of English divines ceased at the revolu- 
tion, and was renounced with that of the Parhament. 

They therefore collated manuscripts, examined into the Arian 
controversy, and reversing the decrees of the Council of Nice, 
pronounced the heresy to be orthodox doctrine. They had found- 
ed a new form of government, why should they not adopt a new 
creed? It suited the rich, the literary, and the new fashionable 
society of Boston, to be flattered that they were wiser than the 
Puritans, and far in advance of England, which was behind the 
enlightenment of the age. To gratify the tastes of the public, 
and not to repress them, is the business and aim of the voluntary 
system ; and the preachers have no reason to complain of the 
parsimony of their congregations. The old denominations, as we 
have seen described, have been in a great measure superseded by 
endless numbers of sects, more or less absurd, according to the 
degree of prejudice that was to be pandered to, discontent soothed 
into complacency, or ignorance extolled into wisdom, They are 
to be found dispersed over the whole country, extending from the 
lumberer's camp on the borders of Canada, to the Pacific Ocean, 
and are either off^shoots from the old dissenting bodies, or indig- 
enous, annual, or biennial plants. They embrace every possible 
variety, from the intellectual Baptist (who eschews and dispenses 
with all human learning, and yet very gravely informs his flock 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 353 

that baptism is derived from a Greek word, which in the original 
language signifies " to dip," or "immerse"), to the Mormon, who 
has a revelation and a prophet of his own. 

While religion was thus daily put on and off hke a garment, 
and its color, texture, and shape, constantly varied, there were 
two ecclesiastical bodies, with fixed creeds, established formularies, 
and uniform discipline, which, though widely different from each 
other, remained, amid the universal mutability, unchanged in all 
but their numbers — the Episcopal Church of the United States 
and the Church of Rome. As soon as the former was released 
from the authority of the English hierarchy, persecution ceased ; 
and, like all other bodies, it was permitted to take its chance, 
unmolested and unheeded, for popular favor. Its growth has ex- 
ceeded all expectation ; and its further increase, from obvious 
causes, is, fortunately for the nation, destined to be no less cer- 
tain and rapid. It is impossible to express the comm.endation so 
justly due to her clergy ; for their learning, piety, and self-devo- 
tion are above all praise. Amid all the secret doubt, and open 
disbelief, the conflict of sectaries, and the endless changes with 
which she is surrounded or assailed, her portals are ever open to 
those who are heavy laden with care, and thousands are seeking 
rest in her bosom. From such a body, so constituted, no danger 
is to be apprehended. Unconnected with the State, she confines 
herself to her own calling. She neither asks nor desires a union 
with it. She has no ambition but to perform her allotted task, 
and no object but the meritorious one of being a worthy servant 
of her blessed Lord and Master. She endeavors to make her 
people good Christians, and, in doing so, makes them good sub- 
jects. She teaches obedience to the laws, and respect for those 
in authority, and upholds good order in society, and virtuous and 
patriotic conduct in public life. If there is danger to the common- 
wealth in the jealousies and contentions of sectaries, there is also 
security to be found in the doctrines and unexceptionable conduct 
of the Church. 

Romanists, however, are not content with equality any where. 
They submit to it, when inevitable, not only with good grace, 
but with much laudation. They always aim, however, at su- 
premacy ; and when supreme, they are ever intolerant. They 
can never be affectionate subjects to a Protestant monarch, but 
their tenets are utterly inconsistent with, and subversive of a re- 



354 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

public. Rome has of late years modified, or perhaps changed, 
her politics. Formerly she aided the civil power in time of need, 
but took care to secure some concession, in return, for her own 
aggrandizement. There was, however, in general, a good under- 
standing between them ; her doctrine being that the throne and 
the altar were so inseparably connected,' that neither could long 
exist without the other. This defensive and oflensive treaty, 
however, was not without its dangers. If the Prince was a con- 
venient ally, he showed that he could sometimes be a trouble- 
some one also, and often interposed his shield between his people 
and the Pontiff. At last the American revolution revealed a 
new page in the theory of government. The Jesuits, the most 
able, most subtle, and best informed body of ecclesiastics in the 
world on the subject of the human heart and its passions, affec- 
tions, and infirmities, and the most skillful in entangling it in its 
own meshes, until it becomes powerless in their hands, lost no 
time in studying the new and startling fact it disclosed, and ap- 
plying the information thus strangely elicited to the extension of 
their power. 

The experiment of universal toleration, and equality of civil 
rights, when made in a Protestant country, proved, contrary to all 
expectation, not only congenial to the principles of Popery, but 
conducive to its growth and influence. The fact, as regarded 
the United States, was too plain to admit of a doubt. The 
error that these Italian divines committed lay in supposing the 
principle to be one of general instead of local application, and in 
assuming, without sufficient examination, that there was analogy 
or resemblance between the population of the United States and 
that of any country whatever in the Old World. This mistake 
has been fatal to the repose of the Old World, and has well 
nigh overwhelmed the power that conceived and acted upon such 
a mischievous policy. Seduced, however, by the unexpected 
success of the experiment in America, Romanism immediately 
allied itself to democracy every where. It thought that if it 
could break down the civil power, reduce all ranks to a common 
level and gradually weaken any constitutional connection between 
the several governments and Protestantism, it would recruit its 
forces from the population of its adversaries, overthrow them in 
succession, or perhaps overwhelm them all together. As far as 
pecuniary resources were concerned, it had already discovered 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 355 

that " Peter's pence," contributed by the poor, out-weighed the 
rare but valuable endowments of princes. They felt, and knew 
also, that when all distinctive rank should be destroyed, its own 
spiritual orders would still remain pre-eminent, exclusive, and 
perpetual. 

Acting upon this principle, it planned and executed a revolu- 
tion in Belgium, by which it was severed from Protestant Hol- 
land ; and although neither England nor France would then con- 
sent to its being made a republic, the reins of government were 
transferred to the hands of the priests. In the Rhine provinces 
of Prussia, the affections of the papist subjects were withdrawn 
from the king ; and they were prepared, and instructed to join 
the first effective outbreak of democracy. Ireland was agitated 
to its centre, and the resources of the empire were wasted in sup- 
porting an army in that unhappy country for the suppression of 
rebellion. In Canada the tone of the whole Pv^oman Catholic 
body was changed. Papists have accordingly acted with the 
greatest secrecy and unanimity, and every where obtained con- 
cessions, that increased their power to demand with more effect 
in future. In Europe this powerful alliance has not been attend- 
ed with the success that was anticipated. The degenerate in- 
habitants of ancient Pwome are vastly inferior in intellect, energy, 
and virtue to the vigorous population of young America. No 
sooner had the Pope opened the flood gates of democracy, than 
he was ignominiously driven from his dominions. He " sowed 
the wind and reaped the whirlwind." In America they have 
acted more prudently ; they have accommodated themselves to 
circumstances, and waited their time. They want but the ma- 
jority, the allotted number of which will soon be completed, to 
obtain a legal and constitutional conquest of the country. The 
Irish are emigrating in masses ; hitherto they have sent their 
children, the whole island having been for many years past de- 
signed for, and systematically converted into a nursery for this 
purpose ; now they are transporting themselves : while Papists 
from all parts of Europe are daily swelling their forces, and aug- 
menting their means. In every Protestant country, they are a 
compact body, and know the value of unity. In the House of 
Commons their cohesion and support can keep any Ministry in 
office. If a party, having less consistency and principle than the 
Whigs, v/ere willing to exceed the bounds they have very properly 



356 THE ENGLISH Ix\ AMERICA. 

laid down to themselves, and would offer rank and titles to their 
hierarchy, whether at home or in the colonies ; admit their poli- 
ticians to the Privy Council, pay their priests, open diplomatic 
relations with the Pope, and preclude the Church of England 
from the exclusive education of her people, can any man doubt 
that such a body, which always makes politics secondary or aux- 
iliary to its Church, would give their support to such valuable 
allies ? In America they know that the natural course of events 
will ultimately put them in possession of the government. Their 
language, therefore, is more guarded, and their conduct more 
circumspect ; but still no public man can safely resist them. 
Whatever party they patronize must succeed ; and if that party 
expect to retain office, it must, as far as is compatible with the 
present Constitution, gratify their wishes. If there is any mean- 
ing in terms or definitions, a republican form of government is 
one that is built on the independent exercise by every individual 
of his own judgment. It is obvious, then, that if the head of a 
Church like that of Rome, can command, on any popular ques- 
tion, a million or two of votes, a power is brought to bear upon 
the administration of the country, totally at variance with its in- 
stitutions, and that, as his power increases, the chief ecclesiastic 
whether he be a cardinal or archbishop, will gradually direct the 
affairs of the nation. In the meantime its fate and destiny, if 
not controlled, are at least most materially affected. 

In the ephemeral experiment now trying in France, this power 
of the priesthood has been already sensibly felt, in her extraordi- 
nary intervention in the affairs of Rome ; by which, after found- 
ing a republic at the expense of the blood of thousands of her 
subjects, she exhibited the sincerity of her love of freedom by 
crushing the first effort of the Italians to follow her example. 
That this body now exerts a powerful influence in the United 
States is most certain ; and that it is likely to increase and greatly 
preponderate is more than probable ; to assert broadly, however, 
that such a result is inevitable, would be, to say the least of it, 
presumptuous. 

An over-ruling Providence has many things in store for us, 
which we are not only unable to foretell, but even to conjecture ; 
and the uncertain future no doubt caused Rochefoucault to lay it 
down as a maxim, "that what is probable seldom happens.'* 
There is, however, as much smartness as truth in the remark, 



THE ENGLISH IX AMERICA. 357 

and it may be viewed rather as an exception than the rule ; were 
it otherwise, experience would be a fallacious guide, and reasoninfy 
would be useless. The present condition of Popery is certainly 
very anomalous; while the trunk has become decayed, and the 
branches withered, the roots are vigorous, and are constantly 
sending up new shoots. At home it has lapsed into indifierence 
or infidelity ; in Spain, into a new ceremonial and cold observ- 
ance ; and in South America it is wandering into dissent.*' In 
purely Roman Catholic countries it is every where languid ; the 
stream is deep, but the current is sluggish ; it appears to require 
opposition to preserve its vitality. In Ireland, the Orangemen 
compel it to arm and withdraw within its own lines ; in England, 
the cry of " No Popery" forces it to station sentinels at the out- 
posts, and to send spies into the enemy's camp ; in the United 
States, and the colonies, it is surrounded by dissent ; and to pre- 
serve its people from contamination it is necesssary to resort to 
sanatory laws, and cut off^ communication, as much as possible, 
with those ■who live in infected districts. Some ceremonies and 
some vestments that shock puritanical simplicity, are either laid 
aside or reserved for the edification of the faithful only ; while 
obnoxious tenets or practices are no longer publicly enforced, 
though privately taught ; for ridicule eludes the grasp, long after 
argument is vanquished. 

Whatever men pay for, or contribute to, they value, because 
they feel they have an undivided share in the common stock. 
And in like manner, a creed that has to be maintained in ths 

* An extract from a letter of the Rev. Mr. Mines (a missionaiy to California) 
in the employment of the American Episcopal Church, dated San Francisco, 
November 1st, 1849: "The Church of Chili is far advanced in the path of 
reformation. A Bishop is appointed. The Pope refuses to confirm the chosen, 
the nomination is renewed in the form of a demand ; tlie Pope issues a bull or- 
dering the consecration, declaring- that we have propria motu appointed the 
said A. B.; the bull is sent back accompanied with a demand for the erasure of 
the propria motu, as the nomination had been by the Church and the Govern- 
ment of Chili, and the Pope yielded. The curate and several inhabitants of a 
town urged me much to accept the use of their church and perform our service. 
No explanation that I was not a Romanist would be allowed. Officiate and 
preach I must. I told them, in answer to their questions, I was a " Christian," 
a Catholic Apostolic one, too, not a Romanist; holding to no pope, no prayers to 
saints, no masses or propitiator^' sacrifices by priests for the living and the dead ; 
no auricular confessions, no purgatory, but believed in the commemorative 
sacrifice : showed my Prayer Book, and was almost forced to exhibit our forma 
of worship. In fact, the Romish Church in some of these countries has touched 
bottom, and I am sure her reformation might be effected." 



358 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

face of opposition, is endeared to its advocates in proportion to the 
peril they incur, or the difficulties and toil of the defense. From 
the present aspect of things, however, in America, the necessary 
influence of the principles to which I have alluded, and the rigid 
discipline and peculiar nature of Popery, it is reasonable to enter- 
tain the apprehension I have expressed, that in the course of time 
the government of the country will be in the hands of the Roman- 
ists. Such a supremacy presupposes no previous change in the 
Constitution which has already ordained that the majority is to 
rule ; so soon as they constitute the majority the sole power be- 
longs to them as a matter of right. Until then, they must con- 
tent themselves with exercising, as they now do, a controlling in- 
fluence over the officers of the State. 

The next great change was in the right direction. From the 
loss of the charter in 1684 to the Revolution, during which time 
Massachusetts was compelled to receive her governor from En- 
gland, the Legislature never would settle a permanent salary upon 
him, but endeavored to M'orry or starve him into compliance with 
their vieM^s. A large portion of the struggle I have related be- 
tween that functionary and the democratic party, consisted of petty 
and undignified contests on this subject. As soon as they made 
and adopted a Constitution for themselves, they abandoned the 
practice, and thus unconsciously condemned their past conduct. 
The preamble to the clause regulating this matter is as follows : 

" As the public good requires that the governor should not be 
under the undue influence of any of the members of the General 
Court by a dependence on them for his support, that he should in 
all cases, act with freedom for the benefit of the public ; that he 
should not have his attention necessarily diverted from that object 
to his private concerns, and that he should maintain the dignity 
of the Commonwealth in the character of its chief magistrate, it 
is necessary he should have an honorable and stated salary of a 
fixed and permanent value, amply sufficient for these purposes, 
and established by standing laws. And it shall be among the first 
acts of the General Court, after the commencement of this con- 
stitution, to establish such salary by law accordingly." 

Similar language is used in the Constitution of the United 
States as regards the President. By article second, section first, 
it is provided that the President shall, at stated times, receive 
for his services a compensation which shall neither be increased 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 359 

nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been 
elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other 
emolument from the United States or any of them. The judo-es 
had also been involved in the same uncertainty and difficulty 
about their salaries. The duties of the judiciary, though they 
may claim respect, neither can nor ought to attract popularity. 
A judge is a terror to evil doers, and in times of excitement, when 
the ferment of the public indicates the approach of a rebellion, 
one of the first symptoms of danger is the attempt to overawe or 
overthrow the bench. The last Chief Justice of Massachusetts, 
under the royal government, an old and faithful servant of the 
Crown and the colony, on account of his conservative opinions, 
narrowly escaped with his life from the fury of the mob, who 
first plundered his house of his money and plate, and then de- 
stroyed what they could not remove, in one general conflaorra- 
tion. 

In Canada the rebellion was ushered in by continued slanders, 
unprovoked attacks, and finally, unjust impeachments of the 
highest officers of the court. They who are bent upon mischief 
generally attempt first to loosen the bonds of society by weaken- 
ing the authority of the bench and lowering it in the estimation 
of the community. In Massachusetts, at the same time that 
they made a fixed provision for their governor, they also resolved 
" that permanent and honorable salaries be established by law 
for the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court." The judiciary 
of the United States, as we have seen, is its sheet anchor. Its 
power is far greater than that of England, and its practice far 
better than that of France. The decrees of the Supreme Coun- 
cil are final, the legislature possessing no appellate jurisdiction as 
in Great Britain. It respects the common law, and its own pre- 
vious decisions, which is not the practice in France, where a 
judgment governs the suit only in which it is given, but fixes 
no rule obligatory upon others in similar cases ; while in learning, 
ability, and integrity, the judges are not surpassed by those of 
any other country in the world. The power intrusted to them 
is immense, and not only requires the exercise of all those high 
qualities to which I have referred, but great caution and consum- 
mate prudence, as well as firmness and decision of character. 
To evince the least desire to extend their jurisdiction would jeop- 
ardize all that has been intrusted to thorn ; to siirrender any 



360 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

part of it would tempt aggression, and produce those very conflicts 
it is their interest and duty to avoid. No men can be better fit- 
ted for this ditlicult and delicate task, and they are justly entitled 
to all that respect, obedience, and veneration so fully and freely 
conceded to them by a reflecting-, intelligent, and grateful people. 

Their mode of appointment I have already described ; it is 
infinitely more honorable than that pursued in England, and 
incomparably superior to that which imperial folly, ignorance, or 
negligence has permitted the politicians of Canada to adopt ; and 
it is impossible to conceive a plan more admirably well suited to 
secure a good selection, than that of the Americans. The reader 
will remember, it is an adoption of this course, or a close imita- 
tion of it, that I have recommended for the distribution of the 
patronage in Canada, for nothing can be so ruinous, either to 
the respectability of the bar, or to the efficiency of the bench, in 
small provinces, as to make a seat on the latter dependent upon 
violent partisan conduct, or coarse popularity, instead of eminence 
in the profession. 

In England, we have seen that Parliament is supreme : it can 
alter, amend, enlarge, or abridge the constitution as it sees fit. 
In the United States, Congress has no such authority. It has a 
certain delegated power, it can neither extend nor restrict. Any 
such change must be submitted to the people at large in the 
separate States ; consequently the validity of an Act of Congress, 
or of a State Government, and its constitutionality, is the subject 
of adjudication in the Supreme Court, as well as the limits of 
their respective jurisdiction. The power to enforce its judgments 
is not so strong as is desirable, and rests mainly on public opinion, 
and a love of order and of law in the citizens. Hitherto this has 
been found adequate lor the purpose. Whether, when the popu- 
lation and territory of the country shall have been still further 
augmented, and contests of an exciting nature between the States 
themselves shall arrive, it will continue to be supported and 
obeyed, as it has hitherto been, is a problem not now necessary 
to discuss. Every friend to national freedom and good govern- 
ment, must hope for such a desirable result. 

Having taken this short review of the subject, two questions 
will naturally present themselves to the European reader. 1st. 
Can such a republican government, or any thing resembling it, 
be introduced, with any hope of success, in England ? 2d. Is it 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 3G1 

at all applicable to France ? 1 do not propose to enter fully into 
these subjects, for the reasons already assigned, but shall as briefly 
as possible state a few of the reasons that in my mind are con- 
clusive against any such experiments. First, as to England : 

In Great Britain there is doubtless a large republican party, 
composed of Chartists (a set of people not very distinguished for 
their intelligence) ; Radicals (one remove above their level in 
station and means, but far below them in honesty) ; Political 
Dissenters (who have already made one attempt at a republic, 
and showed that they regard the scafTold and confiscation, with 
a true Christian spirit, as the means of testifying their love of 
their neighbors, and a just regard for the distribution of their 
intestate estates) ; Irish Pi-omanists (whose object is the removal 
oi Protestants, and the substitution of Papal ascendency) ; and a 
large portion of the manufacturing laborers, whom free trade has 
plunged into deplorable poverty, and whose passions have been 
inflamed by artful, unprincipled men. There is also a motley 
group of adventurers and amateur aristocratic politicians, who 
rest on these masses for support, aflect to advance democracy, and 
play with it, as a tub to amuse the whale. There is nothing in 
such an assembly of craft or cant, of ignorance or vice, to win 
the support of honest men, while there is much to alarm the 
reflecting mind. Every enlargement of the franchise is a down- 
ward step toward democracy, while each successive stage is 
progressively more precipitous, and the gulf hitherto hidden in 
the distance is now plainly exposed to view. The landed pro- 
prietor, the main support of the monarchy, is rapidly losing his 
influence, with the decrease of his means, and his tenants unable 
to compete in the market with foreigners, call for a further re- 
duction of rents, and a greater expenditure of capital, or threaten 
to migrate to America, where protective laws are in force, and 
likely to remain so, on a principle of prudence, that " Charity 
begins at home ;" and a maxim of necessity, that " Self preserva- 
tion is the first law of nature ;" two fundamental rules worth all 
the sophistry of Sir Robert Peel, the declamation of Cobden, or 
the driveling of platform orators. 

On the other hand, one consideration of great magnitude is, 
that Great Britain is not a country where such a change will be 
tamely submitted to. An Englishman is made of sterner stuff, 
than tQ surrender his rights without a struggle. What that con- 



362 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

test will be we know by experience, and shudder when we think 
of it. The throne and the altar must first be overthrown, the 
peerage abolished, hereditary descent of land and title abrogated, 
and the whole frame-work of society first broken to pieces, and a 
new one reconstructed, and set up in its place. All this we have 
seen that the Americans were not called upon to do ; and, with- 
out repeating one's self, it may in general be said, that in each 
and every respect, in which England differs from the condition of 
the old colonies in 1783, that variance constitutes an argument 
against the experiment. The nation is blessed or encumbered, 
as wise or foolish people may consider it, with all these monar- 
chical institutions, feelings, and associations. It has not the 
room for the expansion the United States had ; nor its general 
education ; nor its democratic institutions ready formed ; nor a 
people fitted for self-government ; nor the elements of amalgama- 
tion in its population. 

America was prepared for her republic from her earliest child- 
hood ; trained, educated and practiced in democracy, and knew of 
nothing else but by report. How widely spread, how deeply laid, 
how well constituted, must those institutions have been, to have 
enabled her to receive the countless thousands of the lowest refuse 
of European ignorance and degradation, without injury or danger. 
But she had room for them, they were not shut up in cities to 
engender fears and famine ; but were consigned at once to the 
canals, railroads, tunnels, mines, bridges, and other public and 
private works, which engrossed and required the M'hole labor of 
the people. If this stream of immigration had been limited to one 
channel it would have burst its bounds, and submerged a whole 
State. It was wisely diffused over the entire country, and M'as 
instantly absorbed like a summer's shower. England, on the 
contrary, is filled to the brim, and has opened every sluice of 
emigration, to reheve herself of her redundant population. 

It has been objected to America that some of her States have 
repudiated their debts. Selfishness is an evil inseparable from 
democracy, and when the responsibility of a public act falls on a 
whole people, the sense of wrong is lost in the infinity of numbers ; 
quicquid multis peccatur inultum. But does any rational man 
suppose if a republic were formed in England, or if any great 
extension of the franchise were to take place, that one of the first 
acts of the legislature would not be to expunge the National Debt ? 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 363 

In this respect Great Britain is behind America.* In the 
former (judging by the deterioration in the character of its legis- 
lation since the introduction of the Preform and Manchester bills), 
an equal extension of the franchise would in all human proba- 
bility be productive of this disastrous and dishonest act. In 
America (whatever has been the behavior of individual States, 
and we have seen that the tendency in them is to retrograde, no 
apprehension has ever been entertained that Congress would be 
guilty of such iniquitous conduct. 

Whether a republican government can subsist even in America, 
with any sufficient guarantee for the safety of property, or the 
protection of a minority, when her large cities shall be filled with 
pauperism, and the arable and available land between the Alle- 
ghanies and the Atlantic shall have been occupied and subdivided 
by a redundant population, is, to say the least of it, a matter of 
doubt ; but that it can never be made to work harmoniously in a 
country like Great Britain, with her enormous masses of poverty 
and ignorance, is apparent to every practical man. There is no 
light strong enough to penetrate these dark regions, and the 
temptation presented by the vast inequality in the distribution of 
wealth, is too strong for destitution to preserve its honesty. Nor 
is such a change needed. America had no choice ; she had 
never known any thing but self-government, and there was no- 
thing in her elements congenial to monarchy. No other practi- 
cable alternative was presented to her ; it was the only one suit- 
able to her social or political state. It was an inevitable neces- 
sity, and was submitted to as such ; and at the same time unani- 
mously adopted, cherished, and lauded, as an inestimable bless- 
ing ; there were not two opinions on the subject ; it M^as not a 
triumph over monarchy, for that had never a root in the country. 
It was not a refuge from anarchy, for there was no period in 

* Some years ago, I revisited England after a very long absence, and, as is 
usual w^ith colonists, being anxious to bear tbe debates in Parliament, went to 
tbe House of Commons as soon as possible. In tbe course of tbe evening, I 
asked a stranger who was sitting near me, the name of tbe person then address- 
ing the house. Surveying me with unfeigned astonishment, be replied, " May I 
ask, sir, where you can possibly come from, who put such a question to me as 
that ?" Having satisfied him upon that point, he said, with much animation, 
" That is Sir Robert Peel, sir ; look at tbe large body of gentlemen that support 
him, and then cast your eyes on the rubbish on the other side of tbe house." 
Alas ! that this honorable connection should have been dissolved a few days 
after I become acquainted with my informant. It was the late Horace Twiss. 



364 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

which law was subverted ; it was not the act of a majority com- 
pelling obedience from the dissentients, for it never was made a 
question, or admitted of a doubt, or had been debated upon. It 
was an indigenous plant that had arrived at maturity ; the cli- 
mate and country favored its growth ; the fruit was agreeable to 
the eye and to the palate ; the natives had ever been accustomed 
to it, and they cultivated it universally. Nothing of the kind 
exists in England. A noxious weed of a different species, but 
bearing the same name, has been sown, and ought to be extir- 
pated in time. 

In America, where the people are distinguished for their sound 
practical common sense, if a man were to attempt to recommend 
for adoption a monarchical form of government, in all probability 
he would fail of obtaining an audience ; and if not, he would at 
the conclusion of his harangue either be secured as a lunatic, or 
punished as a traitor. In like manner, strolling politicians who 
advocate democracy in a monarchy like England, not only are 
bad subjects, but infinitely more dangerous than those to whom 
I have just alluded ; for the people to whom they address them- 
selves are vastly inferior in intelligence and love of country to the 
Americans, and lend a willing ear to their seductions, and, if need 
be, would lend a willing arm to assist in carrying out their theo- 
ries. The present form of mixed government is the only one at 
all suitable to England. If the monarchical principle were 
stronger, it would be inconsistent with liberty ; if the democratic 
elements were enlarged, it would become too powerful for harmo- 
nious action, and endanger the whole machinery. Much as we 
may applaud the wisdom and skill of the great American states- 
men, who devised the checks in their Constitution, and much as 
we may admire its adaptation to the people and circumstances 
under which they were placed, no impartial politician or sound 
statesman, whatever may be his country, but must admit that it 
is infinitely inferior to that of England. 

In many essential points,* the English legislature is further 

* Tacitus has recorded his admiration of the theory of such a government as 
that of Great Britain, but questions the practicability, as he well might, of its 
successful operation. The very doubt shows his wisdom. A people must 
gradually arrive at such a result, for it must grow with its growth. A ready- 
made constitution can suit no people in the world. Wherever it has been tried, 
it has failed. That of the United States, when copied in Mexico, disappointed 
expectation. A Spanish population was not fitted for it, nor was it congenial 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 365 

removed from the popular action of the masses, and is more inde- 
pendent in its deliberation, than the American ; while the execu- 
tive is more vigorous, more capable of a long-sustained struggle, 
and at the same time the minority is better secured and defended. 
Property is represented in Parliament as well as numbers, and 
the various orders, without which no community ever can be 
either refined or agreeable, are preserved, protected, or supported. 
The effect of monarchy on the state of society is directly the 
reverse of republicanism ; instead of depressing, it elevates its 
tone. It adds grace to beauty, polish to wit, ease to conversa- 
tion, and elegance to letters ; it adorns all that it touches ; and 
who shall despise the influence and even the value of fashion 1 
It has its own laws as well as the state, and rigidly enforces 
them ; but it is no leveler. It has no republican pride, that 
disdains to acknowledge a superior, and yet avails itself of the 
possession of gold to inflict on others a feeling of inferiority ; it 
gives place and honor to rank and virtue, and countenance and 
encouragement to timid or retiring merit. It is unselfish, it 
yields to all to captivate all. It has no argument, no politics, no 
schisms. Its very mirth is gentle. It is gay, but not boisterous ; 
playful, but not personal ; scrupulous but not captious. It in- 
vests social intercourse with a charm. It limits and defines with 
precise accuracy and delicate shading the various minute differ- 
ences that always exist in society, and assigns with equal skill 
and impartiality, to rank, reputation, and talent, their respective 
places. Social circles are all concentric, but of various extent 
and circumference, in proportion as they become more and more 
distant from the centre ; they touch closely on each other, and 
yet leave room for independent action ; they are nearly assimila- 
ted, and yet sufficiently distinct to admit of a selection that best 
suits the income or the taste of those who prefer to associate on 
a footing of perfect equality ; while, at the same time, many of 
those that precede or follow each other are so nearly blended 
together, that it requires some discrimination to say where one 

to them. The hesitation of Tacitus is equivalent to his praise, and both ex- 
hibit unmistakable evidence of his discernment and judgment : " Cunctas na- 
tiones," he says, "et urbes, populus, aut priores, aut singuli regunt. Dilecta ex 
his et constituta reipublicae forma, laudari facilius quam inveniri ; vel si evenit, 
baud diatuma esse potest" (Ann. Lib. iv). Cicero arrived at the same conclu- 
sion : " Statuo esse optima constitutam rempublicam, quae ex tribus generibus 
illis, regali, optimo, et populari, modice confusa." 



3G6 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

ends and the other begins. Where all men are politically, they soon 
become practically equal, and equality demands mutual sacrifice. 
The yeoman endeavors to accommodate himself to the usages of 
life, and the man of the world and the gentleman relinquishes his 
polish, to obliterate all trace of superiority. When such is the 
case, distinction must be sought where it can alone be found — in 
wealth. Republican life, wherever it exists, is typified in Cali- 
fornia. Toil, premature danger, and exile are endured by the 
gold-digger; and when the fortune is amassed, and the distin- 
guished man returns to his home, his happiness is blasted, for 
envy has found that his manners and morals have not been im- 
proved by his associates, that his constitution is impaired, and 
that there are others still richer than himself. Wealth can do a 
vast deal in England, and furnishes a convenient cloak where- 
with to conceal infirmities. And where does it not work won- 
ders 1 But there is much in society in England that wealth 
is unable to efTect, that it does and ever will accomphsh in re- 
publics. 

The second inquiry is : Is it suitable to France ? That un- 
happy country had, by its previous revolution, removed all those 
obstacles that nature and antiquity had reared up in the form of 
legal institutions, and which still exist in England. They were 
not merely overthrown, they were annihilated. Every thing had 
been reduced to a level. But the same whirlwind of the passions 
that had overwhelmed order, religion, and virtue in one common 
wreck, proved too powerful for the partly-constituted and badly- 
planned repubhcan edifice, erected on the ruins of the monarchy. 
No sooner had the storm subsided into a comparative calm, and 
men had time to look about them, than it was discovered to have 
been built on no solid foundation, and it was abandoned to its in- 
evitable fate ; military despotism, the last refuge of anarchy, being 
substituted in its place. Its effect was not to restore order, but 
to divert the fury of the people from themselves, and direct it 
against other nations. Nearly every country in continental 
Europe has been deluged by blood, or devastated by fire and 
sword, to spread the fraternity of liberty, and diffuse the inestima- 
ble blessing of having no God, no king, and obeying no law but 
the free and unbridled rule of animal instinct or passion, which 
has been deified and worshiped under the specious name of reason, 
or the immutable right of man. After these destructive and 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 367 

ruinous wars had ceased, and the belhgerents laid down theii 
arms in utter exhaustion, people soon found they could not subsist 
without industry, and that food, though a vulgar consideration, 
was necessary even to the enjoyment of rights. The productions 
of labor require the protection of law, but that presupposes a certain 
degree of order, without which it is a dead letter. Disorder and 
law can never be co-equal, or the struggle will be too violent for 
public tranquilhty. The latter must be by far the strongest ; it 
then coerces by the weight, rather than the exercise of its au- 
thority ; it should be every where felt, but nowhere seen. It must 
be passive until put into motion ; it then hears, deliberates, and 
decides. Its assistance must be invoked. It aids the oppressed; 
it defends the innocent ; it punishes the guilty. But it is power- 
less of itself: like every thing else, it is correlative. Reason and 
wisdom are insufficient for its support ; it requires the sanction 
of religion. In the investigation of truth, resort must be had to 
testimony. But man is an erring being ; his impartiality and 
veracity are not always to be depended upon with implicit confi- 
dence ; he must be placed under the solemn obligation of an oath. 
But if he do not believe in the state of future rewards and pun- 
ishments, if he is not an accountable being, you have no hold 
upon him ; he eludes your grasp, and " bears false witness against 
his neighbor." 

A return to a state of peace afibrded leisure for reflection, and 
the work of reconstruction commenced. The monarchy was 
again restored. The hierarchy resumed its functions, and the 
nobility their place and their duties ; much that was new was 
added to the old structure, which, with equal good taste, and 
sound judgment, was finished in the same antique style. France 
recovered most wonderfully from the wounds inflicted on herself 
in the fury and convulsions of her dehrious fever- Her finances 
were improved, her commerce flourished, and her agriculture 
and manufactures were reanimated. But alas I a few short 
months are sufficient to demohsh the work of centuries ; and in 
the general wreck produced by a moral earthquake, there must 
inevitably be many things irretrievably lost, or destroyed. You 
may substitute others equally costly, and to the unpracticed eye 
of the casual observer, apparently far more valuable ; but the 
family portraits, the armor of our ancestors, the trophies of their 
valor, the prizes of their learning or virtue, the tokens and tributes 



368 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

of private friendships, the antique rehcs of the olden time, which 
gratified and purified the pride, or stimulated or sustained the 
order of succeeding generations, who successively inherited and 
occupied the old mansion, are gone, and gone forever. A public 
museum, enriched by national grants and private contributions, 
may contain a collection infinitely more rich and rare, and its 
marketable value may be immeasurably greater ; but who is there 
possessing the common feelings of a gentleman, but must at once 
perceive that while the one merely improves the judgment and 
refines the taste, the other connects itself with all the affections 
of the human heart? When the restoration was decreed, it was 
found easier to design than to execute the task. The fragments 
of the monarchy were few and widely dispersed. An old man, 
unacquainted with public life, and whose privacy had been de- 
voted to pursuits as little calculated to add dignity to a throne, 
as to engage the sympathies of a people, was found in exile, in a 
foreign land, and hastily summoned to occupy the place which 
had been filled by a long line of ancestors, some of whom had 
been the greatest, wisest, bravest, and most illustrious monarchs 
of Europe. A few decrepit invalids without fortune, or experi- 
ence, other than that which had been learned at the sacrifice of 
every comfort (how hard the lot of adversity is to those, who 
have been nurtured in luxury, and how difficult it is for dignity 
to clothe itself in the coarse garb of poverty) were summoned 
from every part of Europe and America to take their seats in the 
House of Peers. The few surviving gentry, whom time or the 
guillotine had spared, left the humble vocations to which 
they had applied themselves for their daily bread, and offer- 
ed their congratulations to their prince, on this resumption of 
his rights, accompanied by m^ost touching appeals to his feel- 
ings, for a similar restoration of their own. The clergy came 
forth from their hiding places, to resume empty titles,* which 
they could not support ; and a station which, by contrast with 

* The passage refers particularly to what is called la petite Eglise. Palmer 
informs us that at the time of the French Revolution, there were within the 
kingdom one hundred and thirty-five bishoprics. These, together with twenty- 
four in Savoy and Germany and elsewhere, making a total of one hundred and 
fifty-nine, the Pope, at the bidding of Napoleon, annihilated, and created sixty 
new ones in their place. The owners of thirty-six of the old sees refused com- 
pliance with the Pontifical mandate, representing it as clearly contrary to all 
the canons of the Church Catholic, which it undoubtedly was. They and their 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 369 

their means, they feared would attract more compassion than is 
compatible with digaity, and excite more ridicule than respect. 
Such was the restoration. It was decrepit from age, and imbe- 
cile from poverty. It was an exhibition of the galvanized bodies 
of a departed generation. They were strangers in their native 
land. Every thing was changed but their language. Thought, 
feeling, fashion, society, tastes, education, hours, entertainments ; 
all that they had known, or recollected, or valued. The people 
regarded them as antiquated masqueraders, and they were at no 
pains to conceal that they considered the Parisians as the lees 
and dregs of the population, after the best blood had been drawn 
off and expended in the rebellion. 

It was evident to all that monarchy had been so thoroughly 
exterminated, that it was now an exotic, and not the more agree- 
able to the country from having been transplanted by foreign 
bayonets. Although the people had applied themselves to agri- 
culture and commerce with great zeal and success, they had been 
too long accustomed to the excitement of war, and the intoxica- 
tion of military glory, to sustain with perseverance the laborious 
operations of the arts of peace, and longed for the return of Na- 
poleon to lead them on to fresh victories. Impatient of repose as 
well as themselves, he placed himself at the head of the army, 
and monarchy was again overthrown. Waterloo imposed Louis 
XVIII. upon the nation once more, and a further attempt was 
made to give durability to the throne. Obedience may be en- 
forced, but no power on earth can extort affection. His restora- 
tion was not the result of their choice, but their defeat ; and as 
his presence reminded them of their misfortune, he was tolerated 
like one billeted on the nation. His successor, and heir to the 
crown, Charles X., was soon afterward escorted to the frontier by 

adherents described the act repeatedly, and informal documents, as null, illegal^ 
and unjust ; and the new prelates were declared by them to be schismatic in- 
truders, with whom they could not communicate. Hence a schism in the Roman 
Church, which continues to this day. Tiie deprived bishops and their partj- are 
termed by their opponents la petite Eglise. In the new order of things that 
arose, the Clrarch became entirely dependent on the Government. The bishops 
could not confer orders without its sanction. Bonaparte managed every thing 
as he thought proper; he exercised the most absolute jurisdiction, creating 
bishoprics, uniting or suppressing them. This system, with some modifications, 
continues to this day. In almost every country in Europe, the power of the 
Pope is controlled. Perhaps it is more unlimited in Ireland than any where else. 
See Hook's Church Diet., title ''Concordat." 



370 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

a guard of his own soldiers, and desired to depart in peace. Mon» 
archy was again stripped of every thing but its name. A mem- 
ber of the ill-fated house of Orleans aspired, and was selected, to 
occupy the dangerous station of hereditary first magistrate, or 
president, under the equally unacceptable title to the neighbors 
and allies of France, of Citizen King. Hereditary rank and 
estate were abolished, and a republic, with a limited franchise 
and restricted qualifications for election, was established in its 
place. It was a compromise between retreating royalty and ag- 
gressive democracy. It was a truce between two irreconcilable 
parties. A long exile in various countries had not taught the 
king either humility or wisdom. He had not inherited virtue 
from his father, and the people had too long despised and derided 
it, even to pay it an outward respect. 

They prepared a charter, and both swore with much solemnity 
to observe its provisions. He distrusted their sincerity, and forti- 
fied Paris, under the ili-disguised pretext of protecting the city, 
but in reality to curb its unruly population. Equally treacher- 
ous, but more prudent, they on their jDart increased their strength, 
by constantly recruiting their ranks, until they were even power- 
ful enough to look down all opposition. 

By an accidental explosion of the combustibles, or a well- 
planned train, he was dethroned before he knew he was menaced. 
He had neither time for retreat nor defense. He was requested 
to abdicate, and permitted to assume a disguise and leave the 
kingdom. In this ignoble flight, his only pursuers were his own 
apprehensions, and the only escort of the little fragment of his 
family that adhered to him were his own reproaches. 

To this base imitation of royalty succeeded the foul and fecu- 
lent stream of democracy, which, crimson with the blood of an- 
other massacre, second only to that of the Huguenots, every 
where exhaled its noxious vapors, that threatened to poison the 
whole moral atmosphere of Europe. Such is the country in 
which this great experiment is to be tried, of a republic based 
upon universal sufirage. Pre-existing monarchy, and its accom- 
panying institutions, we have seen, present no obstacle, as they 
would necessarily do in England. If democracy were not the 
original growth of the country, as it was in America, it is now as 
generally diffused ; and it is a very singular circumstance how 
opposite principles, when carried to their full extent, produce 



371 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

similar results. Nothing can be wider apart than Puritanism 
and Infidelity, nothing more unlike than their principles and 
general conduct. The one believes most devoutly what the 
other denies and ridicules. They have a natural antipathy, and 
entertain a mutual horror of each other; and yet their conduct 
affords, by its consequences, an apt illustration of the old proverb, 
that "extremes meet." The one believes in a Supreme Being, 
whom he acknowledges and adores, but his imagination is so 
gloomy, and his temper so austere, he can see no attribute in 
him but that of vengeance. He believes in a Saviour, but he 
can behold nothing in him but redemption purchased by blood. 
His devotion, therefore, though intense, is cold. He applies to his 
Maker for justice. He has but a faint conception of mercy, and 
being well satisfied with his oM'^n holiness, thinks that he who never 
oflends, does not stand in need of indulgence. Unbending stern- 
ness, and unrelenting duty, are what he values and strives to ex- 
hibit. He sees no harm, therefore, in arraigning his king, trying, 
convicting, and executing him ; and to show his impartiality, he 
will not spare a prelate, who is a servant of God, when he has 
slain him whom, in mockery of his prerogative, he calls "the 
servant of the people." That he is sincere in believing this to 
be the path of duty, we can scarcely doubt, otherwise he would 
hardly glory in it, and thank his Maker for using him as an in- 
strument for executing His vengeance. The Puritans derived a 
holy pleasure from this pious work ; and when they fled to Mas- 
sachusetts, refreshed their drooping spirits in the wilderness by 
cropping the ears of Tories, and boring the tongues of Quakers, 
whipping non-conformists, and hanging people under the pretense 
that they were witches. They had over two hundred victims in 
jail, as we have seen, wherewith to gratify their zeal in counter- 
acting the designs of the wicked one, when a stop was put to 
their atrocious inhumanities. 

The French philosophers produced the same result by an op- 
posite process. The fool mentioned in Scripture, who " said in 
his heart, there is no God," had at least the decency to confine 
his thoughts to his own bosom. The Hterati, with equal folly, 
but more vanity, published this discovery to the whole world, 
and it was not difficult to obtain converts in a hungry mob, who 
were paid for their credulity by the property of the Crown, and 
the revenues of the Church. When booty is obtained without 



372 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

the danger of resistance, or the fear of punishment, the appetite 
for treasure, so easily obtained, grows with the gratification, and 
the plunder of royalty was too tempting an opportunity to be 
lost. The death of the king was necessary ; but, according to 
their reasoning, it ought to startle none. He was but a man ; 
and, besides, he was a criminal. If there was no future state of 
rewards and punishment, his life or death was not worth the 
waste of one precious moment of so short an existence. But if 
there were, they must still be right ; for one of the most rigid 
Protestant sects in Europe, called Puritans, men of the strictest 
morals and the highest sense of justice, had set them the exam- 
ple. Although I do not mean to confound these two parties, who 
so widely differed from each other, yet it is instructive to inquire 
how they were both led to the same fatal conduct. An over- 
weening pride in each was beyond a doubt the main cause. The 
Puritans satisfied themselves they were the best, and the infidels 
that they were the wisest of mankind. The one left the mild 
and meek virtues of love, charity, and submissive obedience to 
the care of females, and reserved the more masculine and sterner 
duties to themselves ; while the others transferred the Christian 
Trinity to the heathen mythology, and regarded both in the same 
light — as the inventions of ignorance, superstition, and fraud. 
The one had morals, respected the rights of property, maintained 
order, and enjoined or enforced frugality, industry, and sobriety 
of conduct ; the others abandoned themselves to sensual enjoy- 
ments, respected neither life, property, nor laws, and relaxed or 
released the bonds of society. The one gave a preference to a 
democratic over a monarchical constitution, and a Congregational 
to an Episcopal Church, and put their favorite theories into prac- 
tice ; the other subverted all government, and all religion. They 
were both hypocrites after their own fashion ; the one quoting 
Scripture as a pretext for rebellion and murder ; the other affect- 
ing to consult the oracles of reason, in order to give currency to 
their frauds, falsehoods, and forgeries. That there was much in 
the conduct of the court, the institutions, and the management of 
the finances of France to amend, there can be no doubt : but 
that a revolution was necessary to effect these reforms, or that 
they M^ere as vicious as has been represented, no one now believes, 
but those who dehght and thrive in all civil commotions. But 
if the king was undeserving of the cruelty, indignity, and death, 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 373 

that he suffered at the hands of his atheistical subjects, what 
shall be said of the unrelenting persecutions and proscriptions of 
their clergy — a body so numerous as to require the surveillance 
of one hundred and thirty-five bishops ? It was not then, and 
never will be again, so long as the world shall last, difficult to 
select individuals of immoral lives and scandalous conduct. No 
branch of the Universal Church ever has been so pure ; and 
whichever shall claim the exemption, will prove, by its assump- 
tion, its own unworthiness. Human nature, at best, is imperfect, 
and always fallible. Of the chosen few who listened to the 
instruction and witnessed the miracles of the sacred Head of the 
Church, one betrayed his master, and another denied him, and a 
third subsequently doubted his identity, until, to the evidence of 
sight, he was called upon to add that of touching the body. It 
is an admirable lesson, and teaches us humility in estimating 
ourselves, and charity in judging others. It was necessary to 
defame the Galilean Church to palliate the confiscation of its 
effects ; and to accuse, before they condemned its hierarchy, in 
order to have the pretext of a sentence for putting them to death, 
or driving them ^'ito exile. They succeeded in deceiving them- 
selves, but they have not duped others ; and every candid person, 
of every creed, in Europe and America, does justice to this learn- 
ed, pious, and faithful body of men, who suffered so much from 
the daggers, the dungeons, and the scaffolds of their heartless 
enemies. 

The effect of this relapse into heathenism is still most sensibly 
felt in France. The whole population has to be re-converted ; a 
task wholly beyond the power of man, without the blessing of 
God upon the work. The gospel has no new light for them ; 
they had seen and rejected it, as inferior to that of reason ; it has 
no new truths to elevate and purify their minds, to console them 
in their adversity, and sustain and cheer them in their toil or 
their suffering. They had heard them, and disbelieved them. 
They had shut their ears, and hardened their hearts, for they 
knew not that " righteousness exalteth a nation." 

They have, however, condescended to tolerate religion, and 
have permitted it to push its way if it can. Romanism can not 
long exist any where without making itself felt. In America we 
have seen how it has done so ; and the tendency it has, by obtain- 
ing the suffrages of the majority, to throw power into the hands 



374 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

of a foreign potentate. The same will be discovered to he the 
case in France. In that country, it is true, the religious element 
is not by any means so largely infused into the character and 
constitution of the people, as in the United Slates ; but it has 
the great advantage of being in undisturbed possession of the field, 
and of holding therefore, an undivided sway over all that is re- 
ligious in the community ; Mdiereas, in America, though numeri- 
cally, perhaps, superior, and its adherents more devoted, there are 
numerous other bodies, and especially the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, to hold it in check, and arrest its progress. This danger 
to the national government of France is greater under the present 
hierarchy and clergy, than under the old Galilean Church. That 
was a far more patriotic body ; it was attached to the soil, and 
its ministers were, both by birth and in heart, Frenchmen. 
Whereas, the existing priesthood, perceiving the frail tenure that 
they have on those in authority, that they are in fact merely 
tolerated by statesmen, neither esteemed nor respected for their of- 
fice's sake, see in Rome the sole source of all their power, dignity, 
and status in society. Hence their affections are estranged from 
the land of their nativity, to which, moreover, from the law of 
celibacy, no ties of family bind them, and they are naturally led 
to entertain Italian predilections, and disseminate ultra-montane 
doctrines. 

The influence they will eventually exercise on the constitution 
can not well be overrated. Laws may be invented to restrain 
the clergy from interfering in secular matters, and to exclude 
them from power, but while Romanism remains the same, no 
enactments can counteract its influence. It has the education 
of youth, the devoted reliance of the female heart, the ignorance 
of the lower classes, the confidence and society of the rich, the 
superstition of the weak, the power of indulgence or penance for 
sinners, and the keys of Heaven for all. It mixes itself up with 
the tastes, the feelings, the enjoyments, and consolations of life. 
It receives the helpless infant, and christening it, adds it to the 
flock, and, while imparting its creed, exacts and secures its obe- 
dience. It trains it in its own way, when manhood asserts its 
independence, and the world exhibits its allurements. It unites 
him to the object of his affections, and makes her his companion 
for life, bestowing on both the benediction of the faithful. It 
unlocks the sanctuary of his heart, a!id is ihe depository of the 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 375 

secrets of its inmost recesses. It advises him in his worldly 
affairs, sustains him in his trials, and prepares and consoles him 
in the agonies of death. Can law grapple with a power like this, 
and say, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther I" This is a 
power beyond a charter, and above a constitution, and they ^A'ho 
wield it must be courted and not coerced. It will assist an ad- 
ministration, but it requires heavy subsidies for its services. In 
the absence of religion, we have seen, a republic can not exist. 
The State then must obey it, if it will rule. It is the vast 
majority of the population that, under some form or other, profess 
Romanism, that creates the difficulty. 

If then the infidelity or religion of France, are both opposed to 
rational republicanism, the want of due preparation and congenial 
establishments for enabling the rising generation to understand 
and appreciate self-government, is a very serious obstacle to its 
success. So much has elsewhere been said on this subject, that 
I do not think it necessary to follow it into detail, America has 
one advantage peculiar to herself, arising from her isolated 
situation. She has no neighbors of sufficient power to cause her 
a single moment's apprehension, however much they may dread 
her interference. She wants no standing army, a power alwa3's 
dangerous to liberty under any form of government, and ever at- 
tended with an enormous expense to the nation. She has almost 
as little need of a navy, as a law of non-intercourse, would inffict 
more injury upon any country with which she has commercial 
relations, than twice the number of men-of-war she possesses. 

European politics, on the contrary, are so various and compli- 
cated, and national rivalries and jealousies run so high, while 
the intermeddling pohcy of every government Avith the affairs 
of others, and the absurd dread that the balance of power may 
be destroyed, render it necessary for France to keep up both 
branches of the service, on an efficient and extended scale. AVith 
such a force, a continental republic would hardly be secure from 
itself ; without it, it would not be safe from others. The funda- 
mental principles of the charter of Louis Philippe, anticipated 
the present democracy, by decreeing an equal partition of real es- 
tate, and saved it from the reproach of having ruined the country, 
by subjecting it to the experiment after it was utterly impoverish- 
ed. Its object, doubtless, was to force upon the people the adop- 
tion of a democracy, by reducing the condition of all landed pro- 



376 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

prietors to one standing ; but it was the condition of a work- 
house, a level of irredeemable poverty and wretchedness. 

There was nothing new, either in the theory or ihe result ; it 
had been tried and rejected before this law was ever thought 
of The best agricultural writers of this country, though they 
differ, as it is natural to suppose they should, as to the best size 
for a farm, all agree in this, whatever may be its extent, which 
must ever depend on a variety of accidental circumstances, it 
should not be so large as to induce the occupier to speculation in 
the markets, whereby he is apt to withdraw his attention from 
his legitimate business, and expose himself to bankruptcy, nor 
so small as to require him to cultivate it with his own hands, 
which degrades him to the station of a mere laborer, and engages 
him in a perpetual struggle with poverty, which in his declining 
years is sure to overpower him at last. Their own countrymen 
in Canada, who crowd both banks of the St. Lawrence, have 
carried out the partition of lands to the extreme length to which 
it will go, and their poverty contrasts painfully with the plenty 
that rewards the toil of the backwoodsman who has a more ex- 
tended field for his skill and his enterprise. 

The Acadians in Nova Scotia, the descendants of the first ad- 
venturers fiom Havre and R-ochelle, have at last starved out their 
repugnance to lose sight of home, and are compelled to fish and 
engage in the coasting trade in summer, to enable them to sub- 
sist on the old paternal strip of land in the winter. If the farmer 
is a pauper as well as the laborer, the operatives in cities and 
the manufacturers, there is no. lack of equality, nor are the rights 
or the property of those in much danger, under any form of gov- 
ernment, who have little else to reward invasion beyond putrid 
fevers and contagious diseases. 

Can any one wonder there are Red Republicans in France ? 
men who, with arlns in their hands, demand bread or blood , 
who are willing to work, but can not find employment ; who 
would till the soil, but that the only crop they raise is disappoint- 
ment ; who love their nation, but the country is too small for 
them. 

It is not necessary to remark on the unchecked power of a sin- 
gle Chamber of Deputies, as now existing in France ; because 
we have discussed that already, and besides, it can be altered and 
a second one added, to correspond to a Senate. But the ancient 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 377 

or modern sub-divisions of France present no distinct sovereignties 
like the separate States of America, that possessed, together 
with their independence, laws and institutions of their own, to 
M^hich the inhabitants were attached, in an equal or perhaps 
greater degree, than to those of the Federal Government. The 
separate and independent States legislate for themselves, are su- 
preme within their own limits, and retain all their powers, with 
the exception of the few they have delegated to Congress. They 
are great barriers to the centralization that pervades in France, 
making Paris the nation. They present insurmountable difficul- 
ties, in the way of encroachment on local authority, afford the 
best machinery that can be devised for training and electing sen- 
ators. The Chamber of Deputies comes too fresh and direct 
from the people for cool deliberation, or the exercise of private 
judgment. It is the trumpet of the multitude, and adds volume 
and sound to its voice, already too powerful ; it obeys rather than 
governs ; or at least such is the tendency of things. The operation 
of this cause, we have seen, has produced repudiation in some of 
the individual States of America. 

The tone of feeling in France having none of the constitutional 
checks imposed upon it, as in the United States, must eventually 
deteriorate. Even the great revolution did not efface all honor, 
in extirpating all religion. The nation had been too long a mon- 
archy to lose its chivalrous feeling so suddenly, and notwithstand- 
ing the subsequent changes, its military and naval establishments 
gave a character and confidence to public faith, which it never 
could or can draw from universal suffrage. This direct appeal 
to the people for the election of the whole Chamber will gradually 
bring the Assembly to think and speak like the mob they repre- 
sent, and the voice and feeling of both will soon become identical : 
the people will contaminate their legislators, and the legislators 
will still further degrade the people. But without going into de- 
tails, I will refer my readers to facts, contenting myself with 
merely stating that I can see nothing in the situation, institu- 
tions, or condition of the country to warrant us in indulging a hope 
that such a government as exists in America, or any that at all 
resembles it, can be introduced into France with any rational 
prospect of success. De Tocqueville, with true Gallican vanity, 
asserts that it can, for he thinks what has been effected in Amer- 
ica can be adopted and improved in Europe ; and that whatever 



378 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

any other people could do, his countrymen can also accomplish. 
With an equally strong Anglo-Saxon feeling, on my part, I verily 
beheve that if the difficulties to v/hich I have alluded, were all 
removed, the French could not successfully carry out the experi- 
ment. 

There is no people in the world who understand, or who can 
sustain republican institutions, but the Americans. Several hun- 
dred thousand needy adventurers recently rushed with impetuous 
haste into the gold region of California, where no law, but that 
of nature, prevailed. Their first step was to choose delegates, 
frame a Constitution, and put it into execution ; and they estab- 
lished a government with as much facility, and in as short a 
time, as the partners of a Joint Stock Bank could agree upon 
their by-laws. What people on the earth could do this, but the 
Anglo-Saxons 1 Those fortune-hunters were not the most enlight- 
ened citizens of America, nor her choicest subjects ; and she was, 
with some few exceptions, as well pleased with their emigration 
as they were themselves. Yet they have put to shame the Prus- 
sian statesmen, the German philosophers, and the most learned 
and enhghtened politicians of the old world. They were accus- 
tomed to the work, aware of the extent of their wants, and well 
acquainted with the best method of establishing and securing 
order. They were practical politicians ; having first provided a 
law for the protection of property, they set themselves in all haste 
to work, to acquire it, and the document they had prepared was 
no sooner duly sanctioned, than they were to be seen wading 
with naked legs into the river, and digging sand, and washing it 
in a cradle to separate the gold from the dross. The nature and 
position of the country, and the character and temperament of 
the people (independent of all other considerations to which I 
have alluded), are of themselves of such vast importance to the 
success of a republic, that after giving the Anglo-Saxon race all 
the credit it deserves, and ascribing to the Galilean nation all 
the valuable qualities (and they are very numerous) to which 
they can in any way lay claim, it may be well doubted on the 
one hand, whether, if France was evacuated and given up to 
the Americans, they could long maintain in Europe, either their 
institutions, or any thing hke the amount of freedom they now 
enjoy ; and on the other hand, if the French were put into posses- 
sion of the territories belonging to the United States, with all its 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 379 

advantages of position, and all the necessary institutions construct- 
ed to their hands, whether the complicated republic would not 
be found so uncongenial to their habits, and so little adapted to 
the genius of the people, as to fail of success in a very short time. 
I offer no opinion as to the durability of the government of the 
United States. The Federal Constitution, we have seen, is an 
admirable production. Those of the several States are inferior 
to it, and their tendency is to retrograde. How far this deteri- 
oration will hereafter communicate itself to the other, time alone 
can show. Our hopes for its safety, hov»'ever, are by no means 
unmixed with fear. It has many an unforeseen contingency and 
crisis to pass through, before its strength or durability can be 
said to have been fairly tested. 

With the constitution of England, to say the least of it, we 
are content. As we can not obtain a better one, we may well 
forbear from unnecessary experiment. The Reform Bill, the 
Emancipation Act, and the repeal of the Navigation Laws, have 
taught us to place a proper reliance on the wisdom of our fore- 
fathers, and to entertain a great distrust of the hasty and incon- 
siderate legislation of our contemporaries. " Fools rush in where 
angels fear to tread." France having voluntarily plunged her- 
self into the caldron of democracy, after infinite suffering, has 
learned that licentiousness is not freedom, and emeutes and insur- 
rections are not republicanism ; that the right to make laws is 
of little value, without the disposition to respect, or the power to 
enforce them ; and that that which began in confiscation and 
plunder., will inevitably be overtaken at last by the retributive 
justice of an inscrutable Providence. Her experience has also 
taught her that whatever be the form of government, despotic, 
monarchical, or republican (and that which is best administered 
is best), the only sure and solid basis on which it ever can be built 
is religion, which at once makes us good men and good subjects, 
by teaching us our duty to God and our neighbor, and renders our 
institutions, our country., and ourselves worthy of the protection and 
blessins: of Heaven. 



THE END. 



1 




— 


c 

! j 
1 


' 60 Cents. ^ 

RULE AID MISRULE 

ENGLISH m AMERICA. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF 

"SAM SLICK THE CLOCK-MAKER," "THE LETTER BAG," 
"ATTACHE," "OLD JUDGE," ETC 

" Nee qu4 commissas flectat habenas 
Nee seit qui sit iter ; nee si aciat, imperet illia.' ' 

Ovid. 

NEW YORK: 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

82 CLIFF STREET. 




/ 


1851. 


■N 


1 



CHOICE READING FOR TRAVELERS, 



Forest Life and Forest Trees: 

Comprising Winter Camp-lile among the Loggers, and Wild-wood Ad- 
venture. With Descriptions of Lumbering Operations on the various 
Rivers of Maine and New Bininswick. By John S. Springer. With 
numerous Illustrations. 12mo, Paper, 60 cents; Muslin. 7-5 cents. 

Drayton. 

A Story of American Life. 12mo, Paper, 60 cents; Muslin, 75 cents. 

The Stone-mason of Saint Point. 

A Village Tale. By Alphovsk de Lamartine. 12mo, Paper, 2.5 cents; 
Mushn, 37^ cents. 

The Fate: 

A Tale of Stirring Times. By G. P. R. James. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents. 



Arthur Conway; 



Or, Scenes in the Tropics. By Capt. E. H. Milman. 8vo, Paper, 25 
cents. 

Travels and Adventures m Mexico: 

In the Course of Journeys of upward of 2500 Miles, performed on Foot. 
Giving an Account of the Manners and Customs of the People, and the 
Agricultural and Mineral Resources of that Country. By William W. 
Carpenter, late of the U. S. Army. 12mo, Paper. 60 cents'^ Muslin, 
75 cents. 

Godfrey Malvern; 

Or, the Life of an Author. By Thomas Miller. With numerous Il- 
lustrations. 8vo, Paper, 75 cents. 

Travels in the United States^ etc. 

During 1849 and 1850. By the Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley. 
12mo. Paper, 60 cents ; Muslin, 75 cents. 

HARPER & BROTHERS, Pnblisliers, 82 Cliff Street, New York. 



W 68 







4.°^<^ 



•^"ift 






















-oV*^ 


















^o 




*°-v 












.*'*°<^ 





DeacJdified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: 



.4 



IBBI^KEEPER \ 

CCPVATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 



PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 



, , . Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Twp., PA 16066 

M10\ 77Q.9111 




\jc<:^ ^*" '^o 






